


Calling Out

by Jinmukang



Category: Star Wars: Jedi: Fallen Order (Video Game), The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cal finds Grogu au, Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Crash Landing, Family Feels, Injury, Kidnapping, ManDadlorian, Meditation, Minor Character Death, Psychometry, Storm Troopers (Star Wars), his name is GROGU ao3 c'mon, no editing we die like stormtroopers, please im begging let cal join mandolorian, this is how im coping thanks to chapter 14 of mando
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 17:39:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 29,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27940133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jinmukang/pseuds/Jinmukang
Summary: On Tython, Grogu reaches out with the force.On the Mantis, Cal Kestis hears him.
Relationships: Baby Yoda (The Mandalorian TV) & Din Djarin, Cal Kestis & The Mantis Crew
Comments: 87
Kudos: 306





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to write this quickly before the next episode of Mandalorian came out. Please note I... attempted to interpret the Seeing Stone and Tython in the Mandalorian to make sense with canon? Anyway, if anything sounds really wrong or weird let me know. I really tried my best to make two planets called Tython make sense.
> 
> Hope you enjoy this little self indulgent one-shot <3

When Cal senses it, he's in the middle of meditating. What started as a simple ritual became quite suddenly very, very not simple. There's a presence, someone else's _Force_ , calling out to him so strongly that he's sure he'd be able to feel it clearly even if he wasn't meditating. 

But he is meditating, which makes the calling all the more stronger. 

Intrigued, curious, hopeful, and just a tiny bit fearful, Cal carefully leaves his center of focus on his own Force to find this new one and figure it out. He quickly manages to piece together the call, having grown stronger in his own abilities throughout the decades traveling on the Mantis. It becomes quite clear quite quickly that the calling is from a child. A _powerful_ child. The child's Force is pure, young and old at the same time, untamed, and very _very_ afraid. 

_Where are you?_ He asks. He's sure that his heart in the conscious world is pounding like a war drum. _I want to help you._

The child doesn't speak. Cal gets the feeling the child isn't old enough to speak. But almost immediately, an army of feelings attack every single one of Cal's senses. Feelings of abandonment, of wanting to be safe, fear of being found. The child isn't calling out because they want to. The child is doing so because someone they love told them to. 

An image of a planet crossed Cal's mind; an image of a temple. Of another Jedi with two twin lightsabers made of pure white light. 

The child's Force is powerful, but the child themself is weak. After the images are sent to him, the child practically begs with their feelings for Cal to stay away. Leave them alone. They don't want to be trained by Jedi. 

And the calling fades. 

Cal quickly comes back to his body, slumped against the metal walls of his small room over the spot where he normally meditates, his hand on his heart in a feeble attempt to calm it. His mind races along with his heart, conflicted feelings washing over him in violent waves.

So much so, that it takes him a second to realize someone is trying to get his attention. 

"Bu-eep?"

Cal opens his eyes and glances down at his legs where BD tentatively stands. Cal forces a smile on his face and reaches over to run his hand over BD's head. "I'm okay," he says. 

The small droid lets out a series of beeps that causes an almost-genuine smile to turn his lips; however before that can happen, someone shouts out to him. 

"Cal!" Greez calls. "Get out here!"

A lot of things can scare the old Latero, but there's significantly less that can genuinely put that worried tone in his voice. Cal is up on his feet and rushing to the main room of the ship before another heartbeat can pass; BD attached to his shoulder like it always is. 

When he reaches the lounge, his eyes zero in on Greez and Merrin, who are both helping a very _exhausted_ looking Cere down to take a seat. Cere's eyes are closed; the bridge of her nose all scrunched up in obvious pain. 

"Cere," Cal gasps, everything to with the strange meditation flying out of his mind as he rushes to the sofa to sit next to her. 

Cere shakes her head as her lips thin. 

"She just... stopped talking," Merrin explains softly. "It looked like her mind was taken somewhere else."

Cal looks at Merrin with wide eyes, BD's confused beeping matching his own feelings, when suddenly a hand falls into Cal's. Cal immediately returns his attention to Cere. 

"You felt it," Cere whispers with a tremble, and while Cal looks her in the eyes, he cannot help but think of how much more grey she has become. How much more grey they've all become. Cal is reaching his forties now, but Cere is the one who's hair is beginning to whiten, wrinkles popping up where they haven't been before. Her voice is particularly weak, however, more than what it usually is. "You felt it reach out."

And the wires connect in Cal's brain. He's so worried about Cere that he almost forgot about what happened during his meditation. 

Cal nods. "I felt it."

"Felt what?" Greez demands. "What are you both feeling on my ship?!"

"The Force?" Merrin asks softly. Their Nightsister may not understand the Force the same way Cal and Cere do, but she still uses it and practices it in the way her sisters have always used it. Cal faintly realizes that she must have sensed _something_ as well. 

Cal nods. 

"It was so... strong..." Cere says. "I could barely understand…"

"I was meditating," Cal puts in. "I understood enough. It was a child reaching out through the Force."

Cere lets out a bitter chuckle. "You've surpassed me long ago Cal... but whatever we felt... It was far stronger than any Force-Sensitive child I've ever met. I felt like I was drowning…"

Once Cere doesn't look like she's about to pass out anymore, Cal slowly sits back in the chair and lifts his arms so BD can move to his lap. He tries to recall what he felt during the call. He inhales. "I tried to talk to them, though I don't think they wanted to talk to me."

"What do you mean?" Merrin asks. 

Cal shrugs. "They were calling out with the Force, but they told me they didn't want to be found." 

"We have to find that child." Cere's eyes harden. "I might not have been able to understand everything, but I could understand enough. This child was _afraid_."

Cal nods slowly. 

"We cannot have a child that powerful in the force be afraid, Cal."

"Fear leads to anger," Cal says with a nod.

"Anger to darkness," Merrin finishes in a whisper.

The group falls into hushed silence, each perhaps thinking of each of their own experiences with fear, anger, and the Dark Side. Cal certainly is. 

The silence is only broken by a tense grunt. Greez clears his throat when everyone turns to him. He smiles a very small smile. 

"Then I guess we are _not_ going to Kashyyyk?" 

Cere turns to Cal. She doesn't look so weak anymore now that time has passed, but she still looks frail. "Cal, do you know where the child is?"

Cal resists a wince as he tries to think back to the calling. "I think... I saw a planet and a small Jedi temple. Not a whole lot though, I don't think the child meant to show me where they were."

"Well, that doesn't help us," Greez grumbles. 

"Yes it does," Cere says softly. "Cal, describe the temple."

And Cal does. He described the towering slabs of stones arranged in a circle to surround a single giant sphere. He described the brush undergrowth and the desert heat in the distance that illusions mist over rolling rocky hills. 

Once Cal is finished describing all that he can, Cere looks thoughtful. "It... sounds like you're describing the Seeing Stone on Tython."

"TYTHON?!" Greez stands up from the couch with a shout, startling a few beeps out of BD. "TYTHON? Look, you know I would take you guys anywhere- would do _anything_ for you lot, but the Mantis may be a phenomenal ship, but even with my superior piloting this old ship won't last long in the Deep Core-"

Cere gives Greez an unimpressed look. "Calm down-"

"What is Tython?" Merrin asks as Greez begins to rant about the black hole at the center of the Galaxy and all the crazy reality warping things it does in the Deep Core. 

"It's a sacred planet to the Jedi," Cal begins to explain as the ranting of black holes switches to the damage ice planets always cause on engines.

However, everyone quickly falls silent as Cere suddenly stands up. She wobbles on her feet and Cal almost surges forward to steady her, but she stubbornly finds her own balance and approaches the Holomap. Cal and his other two crew members exchange looks and then each stand up to join Cere at the console. 

She just finishes typing in coordinates right when they all reach her. 

Interestingly enough, the map doesn't zoom in on the Deep Core like Cal was expecting. In fact, it goes the opposite direction and proudly displays a rather... boring looking planet. 

And sure enough, right underneath the planet, the name Tython reads clear and bright. 

"Oh," Cal says. "There's more than one Tython...?"

"It's said this planet has a special connection to the force," Cere explains, "so much so that whoever named it decided it should share the name of Tython. The temple there has a unique monument made out of a rare material that can only be found there… it's said the Seeing Stone there can temporarily amplify one's connection to the force. Back before the Empire, Force-Sensitive younglings would make travels there to call out for Jedi Masters to find them."

"So instead of the Deep Core, it looks like we're goin' the opposite direction to..." Greez narrows his eyes at the coordinates- "the Outer Rim? That's almost just as bad..."

Cal can't help but agree. It's not like the Mid Rim is the best place in the galaxy, but they say the Outer Rim is practically lawless even with the New Republic's attempts to tame it. They do what they want on those planets, have customs and civilizations that the rest of the galaxy find barbaric. 

But if it's to find the Force-Sensitive child that called out to Cal, no matter how unwilling, then Cal will do whatever it takes. 

"To Tython it is, then," Cal says. 

Greez let's out a grunt then turns away from the Holomap to sit in the pilot's chair. Merrin stares at the hologram of their destination for a moment longer before going down to her usual spot to sit quietly by herself. Cal follows Cere up to the cockpit where the stars glitter and gleam like a million shards of glass. Greez presses a few buttons and the ship slowly begins to turn away from Kashyyyk. BD jumps off Cal and sits innocently on the control boards, looking at that one button it likes to press whenever no one seems to be looking. 

"If any Jawa try to rob my ship, I'm leaving you all behind," Greez says grumpily. 

Cal smiles and sits down in his normal chair as the engines power up. Soon the uncountable stars become beams of blue light, streaking past them at incredible speed.

"You'll be fine, Greez," Cere says in a voice that's more annoyed than comforting. But hey, that's _Cere_. 

Aa they fly towards the Outer Rim, Cal closes his eyes and tries to reach out with the force to find the child—if not to simply try to understand why they called out when they didn't want to be found. He keeps at it for quite some time before giving up. He hopes the child is safe, despite their fear. 

"Do you think other Jedi heard the call and will come?" Cal finds himself asking out loud. 

Cere sighs. "The Force works in ways we don't always understand. Maybe others heard it. Or maybe only we did because we were listening. Neither of us have ever stopped thinking about that Holocron, have we?"

Cal only nods. He finds that he doesn't really care if other Jedi come, as he knows by now that it was rare for himself, let alone others, to survive the Clone Wars. What he does know is that there's a Force-Sensitive child out there, and helping these children in whatever way he can is what he was born to do. 

-o-o-o-o-

The Outer Rim's Tython doesn't look any more special than it's Holomap counterpart did. It's immediately clear that it's almost completely a desert planet, barely housing enough surface water to support much life. He hears that Tatooine has no surface water, and that they farm moisture from within the ground. However, this planet looks too rocky to begin farming moisture easily. 

This is probably why on the Holomap, it says there are no intelligent life forms to note. 

However, entering its atmosphere, Cal can immediately feels something warm and comforting settle somewhere within him. Or perhaps, everywhere within him. The Force is not within him, it _is_ him. It's everything. 

It's just... stronger here. 

Alive.

"Well," Greez says, flipping a few switches, "we've arrived. Keep on the lookout for Jawa."

Cere sighs. "There won't be Jawa here. Not enough people come here. There isn't any reason to."

Besides them. Besides a Force-Sensitive child. Besides Jedi from a multitude of Decades ago, when things were safer. 

"Well, I think that's your temple." Greez motions to the temple sitting on top of a particularly tall hill. 

Cal nods and lets out a breath. "That's it."

As Greez begins to try and find a suitable place to land, Cal busies himself by looking around at the landscape. 

His blood quickly grows cold. 

"Cere," he calls, narrowing his eyes at the landscape below in an attempt to see better. Cere looks out the same direction he is and swears under her breath. There, nestled between two towering hills that can almost be called mountains, lays wreckage of what seems to be two ships. 

Both are still flaming. 

"Those look Imperial," Cal mutters, and Cere hums in agreement. 

"The Imps are gone though," Greez says as he tilts the Mantis to get a better view of the wreckage. 

Cal nods. "Yeah... We should still check it out."

Greez sighs. "That's what I was afraid you'd say."

Soon enough, the Mantis lands on a small flat area that's a small hike from the wreckage. They'll have to take off and land again to have a walk less than a day's worth to the temple, but for now the temple is the least of their problems. 

"You two stay on the ship in case there's trouble," Cal says as he checks over himself to make sure he has everything he needs and reloads BD's stim canisters.

"Stay safe, Cal," Cere says. "I don't feel right about this."

"He will be okay," Merrin chimes in, already at the ramp door. She smiles. "He will have me to protect him."

"Thanks Merrin," Cal says with a deadpan, but they both know he genuinely means it. 

With a few last goodbyes, they're off the ship and onto rocky terrain. A small lizard like creature scuttles by, but neither of them pay it no mind. The ship wreckage isn't far off, and Cal agrees with Cere in the statement that something isn't right. 

The trek to the steadily smoking remains of ships doesn't take a very long one. In fact, it's only a matter of time before Cal, BD, and Merrin find themselves just several steps away from husks of metal. 

"Stay here," Cal says, and Merrin nods.

Cal approaches with as much caution as he can, ignoring the curiosity and anxiety in his stomach that makes him want to run forward and get it over with. 

One of the ships is completely destroyed, nothing but flaming bits and pieces of metal with everything it would have been holding burned to a crisp. However, the other seems more to be more crushed than anything. He approached where the ramp would be if it wasn't hanging partly open, leaving a small sliver of space leading into darkness. 

Cal carefully lines his body up with the tight space, then he wiggles himself inside, BD clutching tight to his back. 

On the other side, he quickly finds it’s too dark to see much of anything. He reaches to his belt and turns on just one blade of his lightsaber. The compartment erupts into orange light, and Cal immediately feels like he's taken a blow to the stomach. All around him are corpses dressed in painfully familiar white plastoid armor. 

Stormtroopers. 

They're back. The _Empire_ is here, even though the Death Star has been destroyed and it's Emperor killed. Even though Darth Vader is gone. 

They're back. Cal wonders if they ever left. Killing the head didn't kill the beast, it just scattered the followers like headless poultry until they grouped together and decided they wanted another go.

Cal is so consumed by the emotions of time long fear and helplessness that these corpses bring, that he almost doesn't notice danger until it's right on top of him. BD chirps in alarm.

He hears the breathing, the creak of plastoid armor, the heavy set of an injured body. He turns and ignites the second blade of his lightsaber. In a split second, Cal throws out his hand and shoves what seems to be a lone survivor against the metal walls with the Force. 

The trooper cries out, their armor singed black. 

Before they can fall to the ground, Cal strides forward and grabs one of their pauldrons and pins them there, using his other hand to hold his lightsaber at their throat. 

"What happened?!" Cal snarls. "Why are you here?!"

"Jedi scum," the trooper snarls. Cal sees the flash of a barrel just in time to jump back. The Stormtrooper fires their blaster and Cal reflects it with his lightsaber. 

At this close of range, there was nowhere it could go but to its original shooter. 

The trooper falls to the ground, dead like all of their companions, and Cal is left with no answers. He sighs and looks around the destroyed ship. Deciding that there's not much more he can do, he places his hand on the metal walls and closes his eyes. There's not much. Just general feelings of retreat. Shame. They were running away from something… no someone. Someone they weren't expecting. Even with the strength of the Force on this planet, Cal can't sense much more. 

He sighs, then exits the wreckage with BD softly beeping comforts in his ear. Once he's back outside, he cradles BD in his arms and approaches Merrin. 

"They're Stormtroopers," he says. 

Merrin nods. "Why were they here?" 

Cal shakes his head. "They were trying to retreat from a fight, I think." He looks over to the distance, where a large hill sits with a temple on it. Fear for a child he's never met before enters his gut. "And I get the feeling I know where."

-o-o-o-o-

Cal, at this point, is very glad they decided to stop at the wreckage before the temple. This way, Cal has plenty of time to prepare himself for what he would see. 

Dead Stormtroopers litter the ground everywhere going up the hill. Using his Psychometry, he finds many of them died simply charging out of their ships. They were met with gunfire they weren't expecting, but Cal has never met a Stormtrooper smart enough to run away from a fight. No matter the enemy, they use their sheer numbers to overwhelm them, whether they expected the enemy or not. 

Walking with Merrin and BD up the hill causes Cal to find a particular scene filled with rather violent remains of corpses. The others near the ship looked simply shot through with a powerful blaster. 

These ones on the other hand... this was a massacre. Bludgeoned skulls, blown apart limbs, piecing wounds growing right through the chest armor pieces. 

More violent deaths have stronger echoes. Cal gets a clear picture of a man holding a Tusken Raider gaderffii from the ones bludgeoned to death. On the others, however, he sees something far more confusing. 

A Mandalorian. Armor weathered to look so ancient, the green paint is fading into the scratched and bent beskar metal. 

Cal gets the feeling this is the same man. 

He leaves the echo, wishing there was something here to see this from the Mandalorian's point of view, just to know what he was here for. However, he doesn't see anything obviously left behind by the man, so Merrin and Cal are forced to move on. 

He finds echoes of a sniper. Some more of sudden deaths. But as they move on, nothing grows clearer of what happened here until Cal finds himself standing in the small Jedi Temple, Merrin standing back out of her own act of respect. Cal wishes not for the first time that he showed her the same courtesy when they first met on Dathomir. However, what's in the past is in the past. All Cal can do now is search this structure for more clues. 

The dust and dirt covered stone ground show footprints disturbing the area. Most don't have any sort of echos attached to them. However, there are areas that seem affected by large blasts of energy that... shows a blurry picture of someone feeling so much desperation and fear. Fear that was different and the same as the child when Cal first heard the calling. Only, this fear is so much more... parental. 

He wonders if this was the guardian of the child. The guardian must have been trying to defend the child here from the Stormtroopers down below. Cal's stomach ties itself in a knot with shame. Here he was thinking it was all over, while a parent and a child out in the Outer Rim were still fighting the seemingly dead Empire. 

He turns towards the sphere buried halfway in the ground and trails his eyes over the runes circling the tip like a halo. He gets the feeling he's about to figure out what might have really happened. He walks towards the Seeing Stone. Takes a deep breath. Then touches it with his bare fingertips. 

What he sees isn't a battle. What he's launched into immediately is the memories of a man in a suit of armor towering over what is definitely a child's point of view. 

Another Mandalorian, Cal recognizes with surprise. Only this one looks so much younger. Both in battle and in age. 

He can feel the intense emotions of the child as if they were his own, little clawed hands reaching towards the Mandalorian because he wants to be lifted back up. He doesn't want to sit here on the Seeing Stone like the nice lady told him to. He doesn't want to call out to the Jedi, because that will mean he will have to leave his father. 

He doesn't want to leave his father. 

But his father doesn't have the Force. He doesn't understand it, and he wants Grogu to grow in his abilities. If his father wants him to call out to the Jedi, then he will. He places his hand on the stove below him. He will call the Jedi, and he will tell them to go away. 

Everything goes fuzzy here. The Force is powerful, so powerful that Cal barely manages to keep himself in the echo long enough for the memory of the Force to fade. 

Grogu is exhausted. Panting. He looks around him and doesn't see his dad. He can't stay awake...

He tries to wake up... 

He begins to wake up...

And there are large, black monsters waiting for him. 

The evil people _found_ him.

Cal leaves the echo with his heart pounding in terror. 

He stumbles back from the stone and looks back at Merrin who appears ready to run in and grab his arms to support him. 

"What happened?" She asks, worry lacing her tone. 

Cal shakes his head and tries to catch his breath.

"A tragedy."

-o-o-o-o-

On the way back to the Mantis, Cal finds one more echo worth looking at. As it happens, this last one is right next to the Mantis, having gone unnoticed while he previously focused on the corpses of the Stormtroopers. Regardless of how he missed it, it's good that he found it anyway. It gives them their next location. 

The echo lays in a pile of soot spreading across the flat ground. He soon finds that the ash and dust used to belong to a large ship, one that has gone through many _many_ adventures with it's rider. 

Its name was Razor Crest, and it belonged to the younger Mandalorian. He was a bounty hunter who came from a planet called Nevarro.

Once Merrin and Cal re-enter the Mantis, Cal tells Cere and Greez everything he saw even though it pains him to relive it. Pains him to see them comprehend just how bad this is. 

A child strong in the Force was taken by Imperials. The two Mandalorians and the one Sharpshooter were helpless to defend him. 

"We have to find the Mandalorian," Cal says, "we have to help in any way we can."

"I agree." Cere nods her head. "Greez, set course for Nevarro."

"How do we know the Mando isn't still here?" 

"The Imps weren't expecting the other Mandalorian and the sharp shooter. I think they came separately." 

Greez looks between them all and sighs. "I guess I'll… set course for Nevarro then. Why do I have the feeling that we're not leaving the Outer Rim for a long time?" 

"I cannot wait to see more planets," Merrin says and Cal releases a sigh he didn't know he was holding. 

Nevarro. Homeworld of a major bounty hunter guild. If the Mandalorian and his companions are not there, Cal is sure he will be able to find clues of where they went. 

As the Mantis begins to take off, Cal leaves to his little quarters and sits in his normal meditation spot. His connection to the Force is much stronger than what it was when he was 17 years old, but that echo at the temple still managed to shake him. 

He takes a deep breath and thinks of the small, powerful, _afraid_ child. 

_Don't worry, Grogu,_ Cal thinks, _I'm coming to help you._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I will be honest and say a lot of my knowledge on Star Wars lore is coming from constant lookups on Wookiepedia, as it's been a long time since I've actually watched Star Wars and I've never seen the Clone Wars and Rebels series. I'm but a simple author making my way through the Ao3 and trying very badly to not ship Din and Cal and absolutely failing at it.
> 
> Anyway, sorry this doesn't have more. I don't know if I'll write more because writing along with canon stresses me out. I guess we shall see when the next episode comes out!
> 
> Thanks for reading. I would really appreciate it if you left a comment <3


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cal plays catch-up looking for the Mandalorian to help save Grogu. 
> 
> However, some unforseen events cause Cal and Din to finally meet on Morak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little known fact about me is that I'm an absolute _sucker_ for attention. And what I mean by that is that the response to this fic was so phenomenal that writing a second chapter was ALL I could think about.
> 
> So thank you to everyone who commented!!! I appreciate all kudos and bookmarks but man, those comments... Y'all are so kind. I really wasn't expecting more than 2 comments and 30 kudos... so really. The response really does mean a lot.
> 
> So here. You all won. Here's another chapter where I plop Cal into chapter 15 of Mando because I can. 
> 
> Little note before you begin? This one describes a few pirate deaths and other injuries that our characters receive. If a little bit of gore and death isn't your thing, then please be careful. I don't think it's that intense, though I am normally a hard core whump author so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> Also, I really hope this fic makes sense and is believable. It was fun and challenging to insert Cal into this episode in a way that wouldn't completely derail canon, cuz that episode was amazing and I didn't want to change too much of it. 
> 
> Anywho, enough of the long authors note. Enjoy!

Cal sighs and reaches up to press a few buttons that should, in theory, stabilize the one person ship within the ever increasing gravitational pull of the planet before him. He's not completely sure what he's doing… well actually let's be real he has _no idea_ what he's doing. Cal's not exactly an expert at any kind of craft, and it's not like Greez ever decided to show him a few ropes. Especially after Cal completely trashed that AT-AT Walker on Kashyyyk...

The man on Nevarro... Greef Karga, told him it's child's play to pilot this ship, and that most of the commands can be run by a droid as small as BD-1. However, Cal finds the constant flickering buttons and lights before him stressful beyond words, like each little sound is a hint of a note that will be a song sung at his eventual crash landing. 

BD-1 chirps helpfully, his Scomp Link firmly attached to the ship's control board. Besides Cal's thigh sits an ever beeping piece of machinery called a Tracking Fob. That too is an item that Cal isn't exactly sure what it does or how to use it, but Karga told him it's locked onto the genetic signature of one of the people in the Mandalorians group and it should lead him to them. He didn't tell Cal _who_ exactly it's locked onto, but he did say to not let any of the women in the group know that he has it. 

A little dial turns slightly yellow, and Cal rushes to press another button which causes the small ship's engines to hum, as if the ship is slowly adjusting itself for the atmosphere and all the problems that come with it. 

He really wishes he wasn't going in this alone, but after arriving on Navarro and announcing stupidly and immediately that he's looking for the Mandalorian... It didn't necessarily put him on the leader of the planet's good side. The crew of the Mantis was immediately thought to be spies for the very much alive Empire and Cal was singled out as the leader; leaving the rest of the crew on the ship while Cal had a very stressful one-on-one with Karga himself. 

It took some convincing that Cal wasn't an Imp, however with a helpful demonstration of his lightsaber and of the Force, he managed to convince Karga that he really was here to help. 

However, as Karga began to slowly explain just how desperate the situation is, it became apparent that bringing the entire Mantis to wherever the Mandalorian and his friends went would only bring attention and trouble. Not only is the Mandalorian himself slow to trust people, but Marshal Dune isn't particularly a people person. That combined with the two new wildcards—the other Mandalorian and the Sharpshooter—made it risky to propose a giant team up with the whole Mantis crew.

Karga wouldn't give him information on where the group is, let alone give him the Fob, if Cal didn't agree to take one of Karga's ships and go alone. 

Greez, Cere, and Merrin are all waiting back on Nevarro, the Mantis closely watched by Karga's men, and Cal is going in this alone. 

There is a youngling at stake. Cal didn't have any choice but to agree to Karga's terms. 

Though, that doesn't stop the anxiety from pooling in his gut. 

It's been a long time since he's been alone. 

BD chirps again, as if telling Cal that he's _not_ alone. He hasn't been alone since that fateful day on Bracca where he decided enough is enough, and it's time to stop hiding who he is.

A Jedi. A Jedi that is tired of running, and who wants to save children from the same fate he suffered so many decades ago when everything fell apart with the Clone Wars. 

He's doing all of this for Grogu; as Master Jaro and Cere have done for him in their own, very important, ways. 

He presses one of the buttons that he _does_ know the function of. On the console in front of him, a small screen lights up with a series of lights and flashing words. 

He missed the Mandalorian and his group on the last planet they visited and has since then been trying to do nothing but catch up. However, it looks like he's struck out on luck here, as it definitely seems they've landed on this middle of nowhere planet called Morak. No lifeforms to note besides one or two villages of humans just barely making it by. The atmosphere is breathable for most species, and the weather is generally lukewarm around this time in the forested planet's year. 

He wonders why the Mandalorian would come to an empty planet such as this, especially if his youngling has been taken, but he supposes most things are not as empty as they appear. Especially if it comes to the Empire. 

With the help of BD-1, he manages to get his small ship safely within the atmosphere and towards the clouds. He can see nothing but green forests below him as he reaches ever closer to the surface. The Fob blinks quicker and quicker, giving him a general idea of where to go. Hope and excitement surges in his chest. 

For a second, he thinks things might be working out. However, everything quickly goes downhill. He shouldn't be surprised, as things often go downhill when it comes to Cal.

He hears the TIE Fighters before he sees them. BD immediately begins to beep rapidly, taking control of the ship and trying to engage evasive maneuvers. However, there's only so much a little BD unit in a basic ship can do. Cal does his best to help out manually, but the unforgettable sound of the TIE Fighter's laser cannons announce the destruction of his ship's left wing. 

Alarms immediately blare, and it's all Cal can do to keep from throwing-up as the ship spins out of control and plummets to the ground. BD disconnects from the controls while Cal grabs the steering sticks and slams his foot down on the de-accelerator. 

Within a matter of moments, everything turns into nothing but the crunching of branches, the screaming of flaming engines, the whiplash shooting across each and every one of his nerves. He sees the brown ground a second before it hits. In that second, he reaches out to the Force with everything he has. 

Then everything goes black with a crash.

-o-o-o-o-

When Cal opens his eyes, he finds one is practically sealed shut with a stream of blood. He doesn't know how long he has been out, but one thing is for certain...

… he's alive. 

He groans within the crumpled up space of his ship and tries to figure out the state of his own body. He's exhausted, he concludes rather quickly. Mostly because it seems he's hit his head on the destroyed control board in front of him while the rest of his body feels like he's been tossed around between two Nydak's for a few hours thanks to the crash... and partly because he's definitely depleted his still fragile connection to the Force just to survive the aforementioned crash. 

But he's alive. He can work with that, no matter how much pain he's in. 

The scar on his chest from his own lightsaber reminds him daily that he's been through worse. 

He shifts around until he pulls his feet from where they're tangled up in destroyed wires and circuits. Besides him a small beep announces itself. Instantly, cold worry and fear wraps around his heart as he desperately tries to turn and see where BD could be. 

He finds his little companion quite quickly. However, BD doesn't look much better than Cal. One of his lenses is cracked.

Cal curses, already planning where he can possibly get replacement parts in the Outer Rim. Jawa, maybe? "Are you okay, little guy?" 

BD chirps in that _reassuring_ but worried more for you kind of way. Cal waves his hand. "I'm fine. Let's get out of here and find someplace to lay low..."

He looks around him for his meager amount of things he's managed to bring along with him and frowns when he finds the completely broken Fob. 

He sighs. 

Of course. 

Keeping his ears sharp for the sound of TIE Fighters, Cal slowly squeezes himself out of the wreckage of Karga's ship with BD hanging tightly to his shoulder. Once he's out, he breaths in a long stretch of air, hoping the action alone would chase away his dizziness. 

Barely managing to walk through a limp, Cal eventually arrives at the closest tree sturdy enough for him to lean against the bark and catch his breath. BD beeps an encouraging pattern as Cal turns to look back at the wreckage of his almost impossible survival. 

Mentally, he tries to plan what his next move should be. He needs to find the Mandalorian, however it's not going to be easy without the Fob nor a ship to get there with. The forest where he's landed is dense, and there's the threat of TIE Fighters above. Not to mention unknown wildlife. 

He exhales. Of course.

Of _course_. 

A little nudge on his shoulder is voice enough to ask him if he's okay. 

He paints a smile on his face, even if that takes monumental effort. 

"I'm fine BD. We'll find a way. We always do. Besides, it's not like anything more can go wrong-"

Even as he finishes that sentence, something more goes wrong with the snapping of a branch behind him. He manages to turn around just in time to see a Stormtrooper with their gun held confidently. 

"Freeze!" The trooper yells. "Don't move!"

Cal freezes just for a moment, once again mentally panicking at the proof before him that the Empire isn't gone. Thankfully, the trooper doesn't seem trigger happy. This allows Cal just enough time to work up enough energy to ignite his lightsaber and surge forward. The Stormtrooper let's out a startled shout as their blaster is cut from their hands, falling to the ground in two pieces. With a swing of his lightsaber, the orange blade leaves behind simmering flesh and plastoid of the same color as it tears through the troopers chest. 

The trooper falls to the ground, dead, and Cal's knees buckle with strain. He is barely capable of grabbing onto another tree for support, panting. 

He hears yelling in the woods and he curses himself. Where there's one Stormtrooper, there's always an army of others. 

He can't fight them like this: his legs shaking and heart pounding hard enough to rattle his teeth. The corners of his vision blur and warp, giving illusions of moving shadows within the trees. He needs time to recover. Time to meditate. He should take one of BD's Stim Canisters. It would heal his head and most of the whiplash... but it won't magically cure his exhaustion. It won't fix his wavering connection with the Force. 

He can't fight them like this. Shaking and struggling to breathe...

But he can't run either. 

With his mind made up, he snaps his fingers and with practiced movements the Stim Canister flies from the little panel in BD's head into his hands. He slams it into his bicep, the pinch and momentarily pain barely going noticed anymore. Within a few moments, the cut on his head sews back together with what will most likely be clear skin with no scarring by the time the healing process ends.

Almost the heartbeat after he's able to stand without a deep ache within his spine, more Stormtroopers burst from the trees. 

Once again, Cal is reminded why the Stormtroopers are never to be joked about while in the moments you're against them. Sure, they can't hit the backside of a Bantha, but with their sheer overwhelming numbers it's only a matter of time before they wear down the stamina of their opponents. 

There's at least a dozen, maybe more all running towards him with blasters drawn and distorted yells cracking through the voice modulators of their helmets. 

Cal pushes himself to meet them head-on, his breaths already coming in fast, short puffs. He manages to knock two off their balance and cut them down, but before he can do anything else, five more troopers run at him and fire at him all at the same time with shouts of battle. He lifts his lightsaber and blocks the blows; it's thanks to luck that one of the blaster bolts hits one of the attackers...

But luck runs out with a kick to the back of his knees. 

Cal cries out and struggles to keep his balance as he turns to fight back, but then his shoulder erupts in pain from a blaster bolt he's failed to block. His entire arm erupts in burning agony, but he continues through it to cut down another three troopers in a series of practiced and deadly movements, breaking his saber into two blades with a pattern of double handed attacks. 

Another bolt of agony hits his thigh. Cal can't stop his knees from hitting the forest ground. 

In a last, desperate attempt, he tries to call upon the Force to slow his opponents and give him time to take another Stim Canister, but when he reaches his hand out all that results is his vision suddenly blacking out. 

His bond... it's shaken. 

He can't use the Force.

For a terrifying moment, he can feel his death. He can feel the raging emotions that is his story ending here. After all that he's been through… the battles he's survived... this is the one that kills him. The mourning of his own life almost consumes him, but then his vision returns with blurring lights and shuffling feet before his eyes. Twigs poke into his cheeks and something hard and heavy digs into the small of his back as voices shout and converse above him. He can feel his arms being yanked back and restrained...

BD beeps loudly in terror. The sound alone slams his consciousness back into his body. 

He struggles against the holds on his body, kicking out and writhing, but the knee on his back presses harsher and the cuffs tighten ever so slightly. He winces and chokes back a groan of pain, blinking desperately to see a duo of Stormtroopers working together to press their vile fingers against the switch that will power BD-1 off. 

"BD!" Cal yells, but it's hopeless. Soon, BD's lights go completely dim. 

And Cal is left alone. 

His arms are tugged painfully, causing the world to spin until he finds himself just barely balancing on his knees. The wounds in his thigh and shoulder scream in protest, but as the several Stormtroopers he's killed are quickly replaced by reinforcements, he's helpless to do anything but kneel there and watch weakly as one wearing an orange shoulder pad lifts their hand near their ears to perhaps call someone higher up. 

The two who grabbed BD stuff the poor droid into a bag.

"-the pilot survived the crash," a Stormtrooper with an orange pauldron explains over their radio, "he took down some of our men but we've captured him. What should we do?"

As the Squad Leader gets their instructions, Cal allows his chin to hit his chest in defeat.

He can practically imagine Cere's outrage that he's managed to find himself in a situation such as this. 

Maybe it's a good thing his crew didn't tag along...

… how will he ever get out of this one?

-o-o-o-o-

"I don't like this," the Tank-Trooper says slowly, settling into their seat at the front of the Juggernaut. His co-pilot scoffs and turns on the engine. 

"It's the quickest way to get the prisoner back to Refinery," the other says. The Juggernaut roars to life while a multitude of screens and buttons that Cal will never understand blink to life. "Officer Werner wants to question him as soon as possible."

As the two Tank-Troopers prepare to take their load of rhydonium back to the Imperial Refinery, Cal busies himself with trying to come up with a clever way to escape this one. His hands are cuffed in front of him to one of the bars running along the inside of the vehicle. BD-1 is still stuffed into a bag like he's some sort of interesting nicknack. 

Cal breathes deeply and closes his eyes, hoping to at least meditate and calm his connection to the Force despite the distracting pain of the lazy patch-up jobs on his shoulder and thigh. His lightsaber has been confiscated and stuffed into the bag with BD. There's no way he's getting out of this without any help from the Force. 

"Yeah, but with the pirates and the rocky trails... There's already enough to worry about."

"You just worry about driving. I'll worry about pirates and the prisoner. Besides, he's injured. It's not like he'll go far if he tries to escape."

"Alright, alright," the nervous one snaps and takes the steering controls. 

Cal blinks his eyes open and watches briefly from his position on the cold floor as two other Juggernauts take off ahead of them to leave the rhydonium mines near where he's been captured. Before much more time passes, the vehicle grumbles to life and follows.

Cal closes his eyes once again and breathes. 

It's not the most comfortable position in the entire galaxy to realign his bond with the Force, but it does calm his nerves. 

No one has made any comments on his lightsaber, nor has the word _Jedi_ left anyone's lips. Perhaps he'd lucked out and stumbled upon a group of Empire soldiers who do not think wielder's of the Force still exist. And considering how far they are into the Outer Rim? Perhaps some of them have never even heard of Jedi before. 

Cal can use this to his advantage. They will not expect the Force. Cal must make sure he's at his full capabilities when it's time to escape. 

The Juggernaut continues to move onwards, and soon Cal finds himself comfortably nestled within his own inner mind, the pain of his injuries and his fear for BD-1 now muted. The sound of tires become nothing but a gentle hum, only interrupted once or twice by droning sounds that could be words. 

Then, a particularly large bump startles him right out of his meditation and into the living world where the two Stormtroopers are yelling at each other. 

"Watch where you're going! Do you want to blow up?!"

"We're fine!"

"The stats are yellow now! You'll need to slow down now and-"

A voice crackles over the radio. " _Juggernaut five, watch the road and your sensors._ "

"Copy, control," one Tank-Trooper grumbles.

Cal breathes out through his mouth and tries to calm his suddenly racing heart. 

He allows himself a brief look ahead, to which he finds more time has passed than what he's thought. There's a particularly large hill. Cal supposes that the rhydonium is so important that the hidden group of Imps on Morak decided to make a cave cutting straight through it instead of going around. 

"You need to get your act together. After the pass we're in pirate territory."

"I know! Will you shut up and let me drive?!"

The cockpit falls into tense silence as the two Troopers decide it would be better for everyone if they just ignored each other. That's fine with Cal, even if the new found knowledge that a simple bump in the road can completely end every single one of their lives within a second stresses him out a little more than what he's willing to admit. 

The mouth of the pass creeps ever closer, and Cal figures this should be his last chance to get something of a meditation before what will most likely be the most stressful thing he's been reluctantly a part of in years. 

He closes his eyes... only to hear something thump lightly on the roof just as they enter the tunnel.

Slowly, his heart in his throat, he opens his eyes. For a moment, he considers telling his captors that he doesn't think everything is exactly safe right now, but then the hatch in the ceiling opens and down jumps a very strong looking woman with a tattoo wrapping around her bicep. 

Cal immediately recognizes what that tattoo symbolizes, so he decides to keep his mouth shut.

She's no pirate. 

"What the-?"

The two Tank-Troopers turn to see what's landed in their compartment, but before either one of them can make another sound the woman takes them out with quick, brutal efficiency. 

Rebellion fighters have always been some of the galaxy's most fearsome warriors. 

The woman reaches forward to stop the Juggernaut within the tunnel, brushing hair from her face. Then, right as the vehicle stops and before Cal can even think that speaking up might be a good idea, the woman turns and finally notices him. 

"The hell?"

Cal smiles timidly and waves one of his cuffed hands. "I take it you're not a pirate?" Cal asks, totally not finding it just a little bit entertaining as the woman looks him up and down in bafflement.

Not at all.

"What are you?" The woman asks, her eyes hardening into a glare. "A prisoner?" 

Cal nods and tugs on the cuffs. "My ship got shot down after entering the atmosphere. They decided this was the quickest way to get me back to the Refinery after capturing me."

The woman opens her mouth to say something, but the hatch above opens once again and a slightly distorted voice calls down. 

"Cara?"

Cal looks up at the voice. Once he sees who has spoken, he's washed over with a series of emotions so _strong_ he almost passes out from sheer relief. 

"You're the Mandalorian," Cal says while looking at every curve and shine of that familiar helmet. Cal is sure if he weren't still restrained, he would run up and kiss him. 

He's found the Mandalorian. Or, well, the Mandalorian found him. 

"Hold on Mando," the woman... Cara... Marshal Dune...? says. "As you can see, we have some unexpected cargo." She turns towards Cal with ice cold eyes. "You know who he is."

And Cal almost flashes back to the... warm... greeting he got on Nevarro for prematurely announcing that he's looking for the Mandalorian. Apparently, most people looking for the guy are bad news. 

He quickly rushes to explain. "I'm not Imperial—as you can see—and I'm also not some rogue bounty hunter. Greef Karga helped me find you. I want to help."

Probably not his best work at explaining anything, but it does cause the Mandalorian to lower himself down into the cockpit. A third person looks down from above, but Cal keeps his gaze steady on the Mandalorian. 

"Help?" The Mandalorian asks, suspicion practically dripping from his tone. 

Cal nods. "I know what happened, and I want to help you get Grogu back." The Mandalorian goes impossibly still. "He called out to me. With the Force. But when I got there it was already too late and you all were gone-"

“Are you...” The Mandalorian interrupts stiffly. “Are you Jedi?”

Cal gets the feeling that he should have led with that. He nods. “Yeah. My name is Cal Kestis. I’m a Jedi knight.”

“-did he just say _Jedi_ knight?” A voice demands from above. A third person, a bald and red goateed man, jumps down from the hatch and lands in the cockpit next to the Mandalorian. The man scoffs, looking at his armored companion. “You can’t be serious. Out of all the Juggernaut’s we could have climbed into, this one happens to have a crazy prisoner that claims to be a _Jedi knight_.”

“I can prove it,” Cal says quickly. “My lightsaber, it’s in the bag over there.“

He nods over at where the bag is laying next to one of the unconscious Tank-troopers. Cara grabs the bag; digging her hands into the folds so she can shove past the still deactivated BD-1 and grab his lightsaber. The bald man’s eyes widen slightly, causing his eyebrows to rise as well. “Look at that...”

Cara scoffs and pockets his lightsaber, tossing the bag onto one of the chairs. Cal is half tempted to shout out for her to be careful—BD is already damaged enough as it is—but the look on her makes him stay quiet. 

“It doesn’t matter who he is. We’re on a timetable. I’ll take the Jedi back to Fett while you two continue-“

“Wait, I’m coming with them,” Cal interrupts. All three faces turn to look at him, making him wish he wasn’t still stuck sitting with his hands cuffed to the walls. “Look, control knows this Juggernaut has a prisoner. If you drive into the Refinery and I’m not on it, it’ll look suspicious. So unless you want to wait until they make another rhydonium run—as this is the last shipment today—then I’m coming with you. I’ve crossed half the galaxy to find the Mandalorian so I can help. Let me _help_.”

Cara looks at the Mandalorian, of whom stares at Cal for just a moment. He sighs. “The Jedi will come with us.”

The third man lets out a series of swears as the Mandalorian steps forward and nabs the keys to the cuffs from one of the Tank-Trooper’s belts. He unlocks Cal’s hands and steps back, allowing Cal to stand up and rub at his wrists. 

“We don’t have time for a jailbreak, Mando,” the third man hisses. “This was supposed to be a get-in and get-out.”

Cal has to physically restrain himself from glaring. “You won’t have to get me out. I can handle myself. You two do whatever you need to, and I’ll catch up.”

Cara looks between all of them and exhales with a smile barely covering up a grimace. “Then it’s settled.” She looks at Cal. “Welcome aboard, Jedi knight.”

-o-o-o-o-

Cal busies himself with making sure neither BD-1 or his lightsaber have been damaged by the Stormtroopers that've captured him. He hasn’t yet turned on BD, but by the looks of it, there’s no harm done besides that one cracked lense and a few new scratches Cal doesn’t remember being there before. His lightsaber looks otherwise untouched, and he can only be thankful for that.

Outside of the Juggernaut, Cara paces with a gun raised in her hands as the red bearded man... Mayfeld is his name, he was told... stuffs his feet into what seems to be too small of boots, complaining about the body odor and sweat of the dead man he took the armor from. Further down the tunnel, the Mandalorian gets changed into a new suit as well with complete privacy. Cal doesn’t understand why no one seems to argue that it would be quicker to simply change out here, but he doesn’t question it.

Maybe the Mandalorian is just shy?

Cal looks down at BD and presses his power switch to keep his mind off of it. Cara has told him that the goal is to get coordinates on an Imperial Starship to find Grogu and that it will need both the Mandalorian and Mayfeld, so Cal cannot expect any outside help to escape his own predicament. He will need all the help he can get on his own, which involves hiding BD under his poncho. As BD’s lights and sensors slowly return to life, he hears Mayfeld scoff behind him.

“Look at this. Oh the shame.” Mayfeld points further down the tunnel, causing Cal’s own curiosity to get the better of him. He leans towards the open door to find the Mandalorian fully dressed and walking towards the ship with his beskar armor packed into a giant bag. “Now that right there is worth the price of admission.”

The Mandalorian and Cara stop in front of each other and exchange a few low words before the Mandalorian hands Cara his bag. “Keep it safe.”

Cara nods. “I will.”

Mayfeld speaks up. “Hey, guys. Still on the clock.”

Cal bites his lip and returns to BD, looking at the flickering lens as it struggles to focus and fully power up after so long of being turned off. However, Mayfeld continues to talk with a taunting smirk in his voice. It’s obvious that Mayfeld isn’t a friend.

“What would they say on Mandalore?” Mayfeld then looks down at Cara while the Mandalorian walks around the Juggernaut, ignoring him. “Y’know, it’s a shame you’re not comin’ along with us. You got such a sunny disposition. Can’t imagine how much fun you are in one of these.”

Cal steps back with the blearily beeping BD in his hands while Mayfeld settles into the driver's chair and begins to flick switches and twist levers. The Mandalorian enters and shuts the door. 

“Power coil, motivator...” Mayfeld grabs a switch and grins. “Ah, there we go. There we go!”

The Juggernaut roars to life, making Cal lean against the wall for support as BD finally gives an excited chirp as greeting. Cal grins down at his companion. “Hey buddy,” Cal says, rubbing his hands over the side of BD’s head. The Juggernaut rumbles and gains speed as BD beeps back.

The Mandalorian looks back, the visor of his stolen helmet landing on BD. Cal can’t see a thing on the Mandalorian’s hidden face, but it’s obvious the bounty hunter is surprised and confused at the sight of the little droid. Cal smiles. 

“This is BD-1. We’ve been through a lot together.”

BD climbs up on Cal’s shoulder and nuzzles under Cal’s chin and looks at the two men ahead of them with a few unsure beeps. 

“It’s okay, BD,” Cal reassures as the Mandalorian gives a sharp, small nod and returns to looking out ahead of him. “They look like Troopers, but they’re our friends.”

BD beeps and settles comfortably onto Cal’s back, and for the first time since his capture Cal feels a little bit more at ease. He’s attached to the little guy, there’s not much more to say.

He walks towards the front of the Juggernaut as Mayfeld drives. To the right, the Mandalorian looks stiff as a board. For a second, Cal almost thinks the entire ride will be quiet and awkward, but then Mayfeld speaks up after turning to the Mandalorian and grinning. 

“Hey, how’s it feel?” He asks, to which the Mandalorian does not reply. “Huh?” 

Still more silence. Mayfeld glances back at Cal with a smirk before turning back to the Mandalorian. 

And suddenly, Cal wishes the drive was silent and awkward.

“I man, c’mon, man, you still get to wear a helmet, right?” When the Mandalorian doesn’t make any moves of responding, Mayfeld shakes his head and sighs. “All right, you know what? I’m takin’ this thing off.”

Mayfeld takes off the helmet with a grumble. 

“I can’t see anything. I don’t know how you people wear those things.” He returns his attention back to the Mandalorian. “And by ‘you people,’ I do mean Mandalorians.”

“Hey, that’s enough,” Cal cuts in. Mayfeld’s eyes widen as he turns back to Cal. 

“I’m just expressin’ an opinion! Look,” Mayfeld says, returning to looking outside the windshield, “all I’m sayin’ is that if I were forced to wear a helmet all the time I would lose my mind.”

What it sounds like is that Mayfeld is trying to get a rise out of the Mandalorian for whatever reason, however the person in question continues to ignore Mayfeld and stare stiffly outside of the window. Cal really doesn’t want to start an argument with a guy who clearly wants to get _someone_ riled up, so he presses his lips together and goes to the back of the cockpit. 

“I’m going to meditate,” he says. 

“You do you, princess.”

Cal has to take a very calming breath to not snap. BD chirps softly in his ears, which gives him just enough strength to sit down in the middle of the floor without starting any fights that shouldn't be started. His wounds still sting, even with the Stim he had taken earlier before waking BD up. He closes his eyes as silence lingers between all the occupants of the cockpit. There’s not a single sound besides the rumble of the tires and the echoes of the tunnel outside. It’s easier to fall into a meditative state while unrestrained and in the company of people that wont outright kill him if given the order. 

_Hopefully_ in the company of people that won't outright kill him given the order. 

He carefully, lovingly, and soothingly goes through all of the little threads that connect him to the Force. In his mind, he sees lights and circles and things to reach out to and hold warmly to his chest. Ever so slowly, the weakness he felt after stopping the crash from killing him begins to fade, and the comfort of knowing that he has a special presence in the very energy that flows through the entire galaxy makes him stronger and more confident than ever. He can feel it in his very bones that whatever will happen next... it will be alright and he will come out triumphant as he’s always done.

Now that his connection is as soothed as he can make it—the lingering knowledge that his bond is not yet fully healed, and perhaps never will be, always puts a small damper on things—Cal lets his mind return just slightly to the waking world. He can hear Mayfeld talking again, sounding smug. 

“-guess what? Neither one of ‘em exist anymore.” A pause. “Hey, I’m just a realist. I’m a survivor, just like you.”

To Cal’s surprise, the Mandalorian speaks up, sounding angry. “Let’s get one thing straight. You and I are nothing alike.”

“I don't know. Seems to me like your rules start to change when you get desperate. I mean, look at ya. You said you couldn’t take your helmet off, and now you got a stormtrooper one on so what’s the rule? Is it that you can’t take off your Mando helmet, or you can’t show your face? ‘Cause there _is_ a difference.”

Cal frowns mentally, and perhaps physically as well, as he slowly leaves his meditation. He was going to try and reach out for what must be the hundredth time to Grogu, but his own curiosity is invading what should be a calm mind for meditation. 

Cal has heard stories of Mandalorians. What child hasn’t? Especially if you were a child among Jedi’s. Mandalorians' and Jedi historically didn't get along and are oftentimes on the opposite sides of war. However, while Cal simply knows about the race of warriors through history textbooks and his Master’s mouth here and there, he hasn’t ever heard of a Mandalorian not being allowed to take off their helmet... or not being allowed to show their face.

Perhaps that’s why the Mandalorian went off to privately change. Maybe this is a Mandalorian practice Cal has never heard of.

Cal begins to fully leave his meditative state, and at first he takes it slow as Mayfeld begins to talk again without the Mandalorian responding. However, his journey back to awareness becomes rushed when there’s a crackle on the comms.

Cal opens his eyes just as someone begins to speak.

“ _Control, this is Juggernaut Three. We’re comin’ up on some route interference…_ ”

Mayfeld gives a sharp look at the Mandalorian.

The voice over the comm’s continues, only this time, they sound distressed and urgent. “ _Control! Control! We need a new... AHH!_ ” The transmission cuts off with a scream harmonized with blaster fire in the background. 

“What was that?” Mayfeld asks, sounding startled. 

The comms crackle with a woman’s voice. “ _Please stand by for reroute-_ “

Then, everything shakes with an explosion, flames reaching towards the sky ahead of them. The _boom_ is so loud that Cal can feel it in his bones. BD beeps nervously as Mayfeld tightens his grip on the controls. 

“ _Juggernaut Four has been destroyed_.”

“‘Destroyed?!’” Mayfeld repeats in complete outrage. Cal stands up and rushes to the front of the cockpit where the Mandalorian is looking at the sensors. 

“The rhydonium is still stable...”

“ _Juggernaut Five, maintain speed and course. Proceed with Caution. Re-routing course, stand by-_ “

“‘Proceed with caution’? Is she serious?!”

“ _Control!_ ” A new voice comes in. Cal has a very bad feeling about all of this. “ _this is Juggernaut Three- Requesting-_ “ screams and shouting cuts in- “ _Abort! Abort! AARGH_!”

Another explosion shutters through the atmosphere, this one so much more closer. The Juggernaut they’re in groans as Mayfeld swerves the vehicle around flaming remains of another. Cal looks with a sinking stomach at the destruction. He thinks he might have forgotten something. 

He remembers what it was when there’s a thump coming from above them. 

“What the hell was that?” Mayfeld demands.

“Pirates,” Cal says at the same time the Mandalorian does after looking at the Juggernaut’s review camera. 

The Mandalorian stands up from his seat. “Keep driving. I’ll take care of it.”

Cal watches as the Mandalorian pushes open the side window and leans out with his stolen blaster clenched in his hand. To Mayfeld’s visible distress, the sound of multiple blaster bolts being fired reaches their ears, as well as the distant sound of a pirate screaming. 

“ARE YOU SERIOUSLY SHOOTING A BLASTER NEAR _RHYDONIUM_?!”

The Mandalorian sighs and moves back inside the cockpit, just to push past Cal towards the ceiling hatch. “They have thermal detonators.”

“Terrific.”

“Just keep it steady.”

The Mandalorian climbs up the ladder while more bangs sound on the roof from heavy footsteps. He simply ignores Mayfeld’s panicked screeching as he climbs. Cal waits under, his heart beating in his throat and BD clutching to his back. He doesn’t realize he has his hand on his lightsaber until he’s clutching the leather grip; the familiar audio of blasts ring as the Mandalorian pulls the trigger a single time.

There’s a gurgling scream. A second of silence. And then an ear splitting _boom_. For a horrifying moment, Cal thinks they're moments from ending up like the wreckage they’ve passed earlier, but when the Juggernaut simply jolts with Mayfeld expertly steadying it’s pace, Cal realizes the explosion was behind them. Cal’s eyes dart to the sensors, all in the red, but slowly going back to green as the Juggernaut goes back on course. 

“They’re trying to blow the rhydonium,” the Mandalorian calls from above. 

Cal’s pretty sure Mayfeld is one second away from losing it. “You think?!” He shouts, turning back to the hatch with a wild look on his face. “You should’ve left me in _PRISON_!”

That remark goes ignored—though Cal does store that at the back of his mind to ask about later when they're not in mortal peril—as the Mandalorian takes a step down back into the cockpit... however he’s stopped when there's a distant sound of more Pirates screaming. Without a word, he re-opens the hatch and completely emerges onto the roof. Cal moves forward without thinking, but then Mayfeld shouts out to him. “Help me steer this thing!”

“I-“

“Mando can handle himself-“ above, there’s the sound of screaming and thudding bodies. “Get over here!”

Cal does as he’s told and sits in the chair the Mandalorian used to sit in and looks at all the levers and buttons before him with growing anxiety. He probably shouldn’t mention that two out of two vehicles he’s had the pleasure of steering in the past few decades have each ended up as fiery remains. 

Well... third time’s a charm, right?

“The rhydonium-“ Mayfeld demands as he keeps his eyes firmly locked on the road. His mocking personality is nowhere to be seen, just business and _survival_. “Keep me updated.”

“It’s green,” Cal reassures.

Above, more shouting and screaming commences. There’s no more blaster bolts being fired however, which is testament enough to the _marvel_ that is Empire technology. 

The _marvel_ of how they’ve gotten so far, to be blunt.

Suddenly, there’s a loud scream and a series of _very_ close thuds. A body falls over the windshield and over the front of the Juggernaut. The vehicle gives multiple sickening bounces with the cut off noises of shrieking gurgles and crunching bones. Cal is so stunned by the violent death he’s just witnessed that he almost forgets to pay attention to the sensors, of which have yellowed ever so slightly. However, they begin to go back down to green. Cal tells Mayfeld so, his voice sounding weak even to himself.

So, this is what Mayfeld meant when he said the Mandalorian can handle himself. Cal vows from there to do nothing to get on his bad side. 

There’s a few more violent thuds and shouts, before a second of eerie silence. That silence, however, is interrupted by the Mandalorian hollering down. “Mayfeld! Pick it up! Drive faster!”

Mayfeld does as he’s told and speeds up the Juggernaut with a pull of a lever. The engines whir. However, as Cal watches the sensors, it becomes very clear that they probably _shouldn’t_ speed up. Mayfeld notices this as well right when the sensors go red. 

“I don’t think faster’s a good idea!” He slams on the breaks, causing gravity to surge forward so violently Cal is almost shocked to not see the Mandalorian tumble off the front like one of his earlier victims. The sensors go back down to a yellowish green as Mayfeld swerves around more flaming wreckage. 

“What are you doing?!” The Mandalorian demands angrily. The sensors go fully to green. 

What commences next is a series of thuds that suggest a whole lot more opponents for the Mandalorian to deal with. Cal is almost tempted to disregard Mayfeld’s demands and go up to help, but he can see the Refinery in the distance and it would only mean bad news if he’s seen up there—waving a lightsaber around and using the force—by Imp’s that might actually know what that means.

Mayfeld keeps driving, even as more and more sounds of combat come down from above. It sounds brutal, and Cal can only imagine what’s going on. There’s shouting and clanking and thumping and it all sets Cal on edge to the point he’s very glad he managed to get in a full meditation before all of this. 

After a few tense and stressful minutes, there’s a scream that definitely sounds like the Mandalorian’s voice, preceded by a heavy thud. Cal looks away from the sensors towards the rear-view camera, just to see the Mandalorian hanging slightly off the edge with one pirate straddling his waist and another hanging off the side, holding his arms. 

Cal moves without thinking. He opens the window and reaches out and _pushes_. 

The pirate holding onto the Mandalorian goes flying off the side with a shocked scream. The other looks absolutely stunned, giving the Mandalorian a big enough window to grab at his shirt and kick him over his head, flinging the pirate down to the ground to join his friend. 

The Mandalorian glances back at Cal for just a second to give a nod, and then rushes back on top of the Juggernaut to fight what seems to be one more pirate on top of the vehicle. Cal can’t tear his eyes off from the remorselessness of the bounty hunter's attacks as he drives a spear into the pirates shoulder and grabs the thermal detonator that was about to be placed on the rhydonium. The pirate falls off the back of the Juggernaut as the Mandalorian throws the bomb off the back. It explodes further back, taking out both of the pirate cruisers that were following after them. Thankfully, the explosion this time is just far enough back to only tremor the Juggernaut. The Mandalorian stumbles, but keeps his feet firm below him.

“Uh, Mando!” Mayfeld calls. “I gotta stop! I can’t cross at this speed.”

Cal turns from the Mandalorian to see that they’re just a small home stretch to a bridge. Then, behind him, there’s more shouting of pirates and a multitude of cruisers. 

Cal goes back into the seat and closes the window. He stands up and Mayfeld shouts at him.

“There’s more pirates,” Cal snaps, “they keep coming. If we leave him alone up there we’ll all _die-_ “

In front of the Juggernaut there’s a green flash, a loud blast, and a bright explosion. Mayfeld re-corrects the route of the vehicle as two TIE Fighters pass overhead, releasing more laser bolts into the small army of Pirates behind them. Cal sinks into the chair, feeling an odd amount of _sheer_ relief just by seeing their enemy rescuers. Mayfeld doesn’t bother to hide his shout of joy. 

Looks like third time is a charm. Cal isn't destined to blow up every vehicle he's at the controls of.

Cal could have sat there in pure bliss as Stormtroopers rush out onto the bridge with blasters drawn, but the hatch opens above and the Mandalorian climbs down with a series of grunts and groans. Cal quickly climbs out of the chair and helps him over to take a seat, then he stands back out of sight as Stormtroopers line outside and salute the drivers. Mayfeld salutes back. 

“Never thought you’d be happy to see Stormtroopers,” he says slowly, giving a nod at the passing soldiers. 

As easy as it is to feel like this whole experience is a victory, Cal is reminded otherwise as the Juggernaut slowly enters the refinery. He eyeballs the cuffs hanging on the Mandalorian’s belt and sighs. “You should probably cuff me before we park,” he says.

The Mandalorian turns to look at him, then nods, grabbing the cuffs with stiff movements. Cal steps forward and allows his wrists to be restrained in front of him, and then tells BD to hide under his poncho with his lightsaber tied onto one of his limbs.

Then, the Juggernaut parks within the refinery. Troopers of all kinds and ranks applaud their arrival as the Mandalorian and Mayfeld open the side doors. Mayfeld comes back and grabs Cal by the upper arm with an... almost apologetic look on his face before he goes out and joins the Mandalorian who looks rather lost and confused within the midsts of Troopers hitting his back in good nature. Cal nods, then allows Mayfeld to roughly manhandle him out of the vehicle, where they are immediately met with a small group of troopers ready to take Cal to... wherever they’re going to take him. Mayfeld hands Cal over to the Troopers' with a solute, then turns without sparing a second glance.

Cal watches them go for as long as he can, but then his arms are grabbed and he’s led away.

Cal really hopes the Mandalorian and Mayfeld find what they’re looking for. However, for now, what Cal needs to worry about is how he’s going to leave custody and rejoin them for their escape. 

He feels BD’s claws tighten on his under armor in comfort and Cal resists a smile as the meager group of Stormtroopers lead him away from the celebrations and applauds down a long and mostly empty hallway.

He’ll give it ten minutes, and then he’s out of here.

He has nothing to worry about.

-o-o-o-o-

Cal is roughly shoved down a rather long hallway about two floors down from where they’ve initially come from when he decides it’s time to go. The hallway is almost completely empty, and BD is starting to get jittery under his poncho. 

The announcement over the Stormtroopers' comms that two other Troopers all of a sudden started firing up the Officers’ Mess is simply proof that he’s right.

Time to go!

Cal throws his body to the side and roughly elbows the Stormtrooper to his left. The Stormtroopers around him call out in outrage, but that outrage soon turns to shock as BD drops his lightsaber and he catches it with the Force before it can hit the group. He immediately turns on one blade and spins, cutting one of the troopers across their breastplate. Before the others can recover, he reaches to the air with his free hand and slows each and every one of them in a powerful display of the Force. 

Cutting them down after that is child’s play. Finding the trooper that had the keys to his cuffs takes longer than defeating them. 

He’s running down the hallway and looking for the nearest window before another minute passes. BD leaves his poncho and makes a home on his back as Cal sprints into a wide room leading out to a small balcony overlooking the sheering dam the Refinery is built on top of. The room is completely empty thanks to how many troopers they have upstairs with the celebrations and the manpower needed to fight the remaining pirates. So, all that Cal has to do is carefully jump up to grab the lip of the floor above him and heave himself up. He can hear distant shouting above him, which only encourages him to climb quicker to the next floor with large jumps assisted with the Force. 

He only has one mishap, and that’s when a trooper falls down from above him, screaming and almost hitting Cal. BD beeps, encouraging Cal to look up to where he sees none other than Mayfeld and the Mandalorian doing the exact same thing he is: climbing the side of the building to the roof. Only, they’re a lot closer to the roof than he is.

However, they have a stream of troopers after them and no sensitivity to the Force to assist their climb. By the time they reach the lip of the roof, Cal is only a minute behind.

All around him are swarming Stormtroopers, however it seems Cara and the sharpshooter Cal hasn’t met yet are determined to pick off every person he almost doesn’t notice. When he finally scrambles onto the rooftop, he finds one of the Stormtroopers aiming at Mayfeld’s back. Cal drags the trooper towards him and then launches him off the side of the roof. 

Feeling both giddy and a little bit tired from the use of the Force, Cal sprints forward to catch up to his two partners in Imperial crime. A decently sized ship flies overhead and opens it’s ramp. Since neither Mayfeld or the Mandalorian turn from the ship, Cal feels inclined to believe that this is their get-away ride. 

The Mandalorian jumps first, then Mayfeld follows. Cal lifts his lightsaber to block a blaster bolt before he too jumps, having to call upon the Force one last time to make the steadily increasing gap. For a second, the movement of the ship throws Cal off balance, causing his heart to jump to his throat as he almost falls backwards. Then, he’s caught by his free arm and hefted towards safety by the Mandalorian. Cal turns off his saber and holds on tight as they retreat into the safety of the ship. 

Before the ramp closes, Mayfeld speaks up through panting breaths. “Hand me that cycler rifle.”

The Mandalorian complies. Before the ship can fly away, Mayfeld fires the rifle with deadly accuracy, hitting the rhydonium they have delivered and blowing the Refinery off the map. He hands the rifle back to the Mandalorian with a significant look in his eyes. 

“We all need to sleep at night.”

-o-o-o-o-

After a rather exciting flight that involved one giant Seismic Charge and two no longer troublesome TIE Fighters, the ship lands in the forest near where Cara and another woman stand. One of the two is victim to Greef Karga having a spare Tracking Fob locked onto the genetic signature of, and by the looks of them Cal doesn’t feel urged to let either of them know of that. He’d like to keep all of his limbs attached to his body, thank you very much.

Cal stays behind on the ship as Mayfeld and the Mandalorian walk out to meet the other two members of their group. As the sharpshooter walks onto the ship, Cal quickly diverts his eyes and busies himself by looking over BD who has made himself rather comfortable on Cal’s lap.

“So,” the woman says, forcing Cal to look up and pay attention to her. She leans casually against one of the walls, her face stony and giving nothing away. “You’re the... Jedi Marshal Dune was talking about.”

Cal sets BD down and stands up with a barely concealed gulp. He brushes his hands on his poncho and holds one out. “Cal Kestis.”

“Fennec Shand,” she replies, not taking his hand. Cal lets his hand drop awkwardly as she looks him up and down. “I saw how you handled yourself down at the Refinery. Keep that up, and you might make a useful addition to this suicide team.”

“Jedi are never to be underestimated,” a new voice says. Cal turns and almost loses his breath. Finally, the last member of this team has decided to reveal themselves to Cal. The man before him looks powerful, even without the dents in the armor that scream victory. “I have faced a few in my time. They were never easy battles. One almost cost me my life.”

The second Mandalorian holds out his hand. Relieved at the human gesture, Cal takes it. However, the grip tightens on his hand and tugs him forward. 

“That lightsaber of yours,” the man says, “it looked rather close to red.”

Cal feels like his body was left on the coldest ice planet furthest from the coldest star. He presses his lips together and summons enough courage to squeeze the hand back. “I have my secrets, but I promise you can trust me.”

The man finally lets go of Cal’s hand and steps back with a cold look on his visor. Then, to Cal’s surprise, he lifts his hands and removes his helmet. Even though Cal has seen his face before within the remnants of an echo, it still shocks him to see the warrior under the helmet. This man has lived a long life, one so connected to the armor he wears Cal can almost sense the echoes there without having to physically touch them. He makes himself ignore those echoes. He doesn’t want to pry.

“My name is Boba Fett, and this is my ship. Welcome aboard.”

Cal nods. However, before he can do anything else, Boba adopts a stern look on his face that promises a fate worse than death. 

“Finding the child is of utmost importance,” he growls, “and if you and your tainted lightsaber do anything to interrupt the mission, then you will regret it. Understood?”

Cal nods without hesitation. “Understood. I will die before I let the Empire hurt him.”

Boba looks like he wishes to say something more, but thankfully, at that moment, footsteps announce the Mandalorian and Cara’s presence. Cal turns to find Mayfeld gone. 

“Where’s Mayfeld?” 

Cara looks at him and smiles slyly. “As far as the New Republic is aware, prisoner number three-four-six-six-seven regretfully died in a rhydonium explosion in an Imperial Refinery on Morak. Now, we have our coordinates, it’s time we get going.”

Cara tosses a data-stick at Boba, of which takes the item with a nod then returns to the cockpit. 

Before Cal could even question why they didn’t tell him that Mayfeld was a _New Republic_ criminal, a firm hand falls on his shoulder. Cal finds himself face to helmet with the Mandalorian in full beskar armor. 

It’s almost surreal. 

“You said you want to find the kid,” the Mandalorian says slowly.

Cal nods as the engines to Boba’s ship begin to roar. “Yes.”

The hand on Cal’s shoulder tightens ever so slightly. “When we have him, will you teach him your magic?”

“The Force?” Cal asks, resisting a laugh as the Mandalorian hums. Cal clears his throat and looks down at the ground. “I uh, I can teach him if he wants me to.”

“Ahsoka Tano wouldn’t train him,” the Mandalorian says, and the name pings a strange familiarity within Cal. He’ll have to ask Cere about Ahsoka Tano the next time he sees her. “I don’t fully understand why... but he’s powerful. I cannot teach him.”

Cal can agree with that. He’s never felt a presence so strong in the force as he has Grogu. “I will do whatever I can to help him. I’ve dedicated my life since I was seventeen to helping all Force-Sensitive younglings. You have my word, I will not abandon him.”

The look the Mandalorian gives him is a stern, calculating one. Cal can almost imagine cold eyes behind that visor. With a final squeeze to his shoulder, the Mandalorian lets go. 

“Is there um,” Cal starts slowly, “a name I can call you?”

The Mandalorian regards Cal for a moment longer, as if he’s weighing impossible options, until he finally speaks in a soft voice. 

“Din.”

“Din,” Cal repeats. He smiles. “It’s nice to formally meet you.”

The Mandalorian nods sharply, then turns to sit on a chair lining the walls. The ship jolts, warning enough that it’s time to sit down and buckle up for take off. 

Once he and all the others are secured in their seats, the Mandalorian calls out to the entire group. “We have our destination. Now? We send Moff Gideon a message. We're getting my kid back."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Congrats! You made it to the end! 
> 
> Hope y'all don't mind me stuffing Cal having an orange lightsaber in everyone's face. After learning that Samuel L Jackson simply asked for a purple lightsaber I've decided lightsaber colors are not personality tests lmao. Orange lightsaber Cal is _so_ good and you can pry that from my dead hands. 
> 
> I don't know if I'll add more. We will see when the last episode comes out I suppose. 
> 
> Or you guys can yell at me in the comments until I write more lmao. This fic is very self indulgent, but it does help to know when people like the fic.
> 
> Also, anyone else really liking the idea of Din/Cal ship? I mean. Im not really a romance person, but I would love for them to kiss. Just once. As a treat. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! Hopefully this lived up to some of y'all's expectations >.<
> 
> Bye! Again, any and all comments are much appreciated <3
> 
> January 1st edit; I'm very close to finishing the next chapter, but I just wanted to note quickly that yes, Cal not recognizing Boba as a clone was on purpose. I have ✨plans✨ >:)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to rescue Grogu,
> 
> Cal changes events,
> 
> And Din changes his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for taking forever to update this, however if you look at the word count you will see that it's shot up 15k. So. Yeah. This got really long because there was so much to unload. I had to watch chapter 16 so many times to catch conversations and events and I... well it just took a very long time to get this to a point I liked. The rough draft of this was 11k.
> 
> This chapter we get a POV change to our favorite space dad!
> 
> Before you begin, I want to give a fair wanting that this is only slightly edited. There might be grammar and spelling mistakes that I've missed, but because I wanted to get this out as soon as possible I decided to just upload it and go through it again for a better editing. 
> 
> Also, this is in no way a fix-it of Chapter 16. I've changed quite a few things here and there, yes, but that's because Cal is here. I personally thought the final was very good and did Luke justice. Anyway, I'll have a quick list of things in the end notes of things i've changed and why i've changed them. For now? please enjoy :)

The first time Din sees the Jedi use his powers, it’s when he’s struggling to find purchase on his back, straddled by the waist and held down by his arms as the ground rushes by below him at deadly speeds. It’s when he’s struggling to breathe in armor that isn’t his. It’s when a pirate is moments away from blowing the entire Juggernaut to the skies and ending all of their lives; right then and right there.

He’s doing everything he can to get the two pirates pinning off of him—his heart beats so frantically he can feel the vibrations of each _bum-boom_ within his squeezed ribcage trapped under plastoid armor that does less than nothing to protect him. Every time he kicks his legs and jerks his hips and _fails_ to find purchase, it becomes harder and harder to keep every urge to scream in frustration stifled. He can’t die here. He can’t lose here. If he loses here, then it’s over. For him. For the men driving this blasted thing below.

For Grogu.

He’s about to make a final and desperate attempt to get his arm free when the pirate holding his arms down all of a sudden wails in terrified shock. The holds on his arms are gone the instant after. Din doesn’t look a gift tauntaun in the mouth; he takes advantage of the very moment he’s free to flip the pirate sitting on top of him over his head and towards the ground below. The pirate gurgles out a cry of death, and then Din is free.

Something catches his attention right before he can scramble fully to his feet. He looks over for just a moment, and what he sees shends hoards of memories and churning feelings straight into his very being. The Jedi leans out from the Juggernaut window, his gloved hand reaching out with fingers spread and an alarmed expression on his face.

Din immediately understands what just happened. It’s the same power that stopped the mudhorn from grinding Din down with it’s horn until he’s unable to be distinguished from the mushy mud. It’s the same power that he watched take a small ball from his hand and into the clawed grasp of a child’s fingers.

And he hates it. This proof. This sight before him that says the Jedi wasn’t all words when they first met not even half an hour ago. He has powers. Magic. The Force. Whatever it’s called.

He has it, and he saved Din’s life with it. He will take Grogu away from him with it too, once the time comes.

Instead of wasting another moment to chase that taboo feeling of mourning, Din tells himself that this is what he wants and this is what the kid needs and he wont be safe until Grogu is with the people he belongs with.

And he moves on from it.

He nods at the Jedi, a silent thank you, a hidden blessing, then he scrambles up to his feet to take down the last pirate before the thermal detonator can be placed down.

Finding a Jedi… this is what he wanted.

Returning Grogu to the Jedi… this is what he wanted.

This is all what he wanted.

This is the Way.

-o-o-o-o-

Din got desperate and he crossed a few lines. Taking off his helmet being the most dangerous line that he’s crossed in a very long time.

But he has Gideon’s location now. He can find and save the kid. If all of that meant bringing the child back to him—out of the remnant of the Empire’s paws—then he would gladly take his helmet off over and over and over again. He would strip every inch of beskar and let it fall to the ground. He would look Gideon straight in the eyes, he would allow his bared teeth to be shown, he would let the galaxy see his face and know his name.

Messy. Desperate. Lines crossed. Mayfeld was right.

It feels like sacrilege to stand within what little privacy Fett has on his ship and hold his beskar helmet in his hands… considering putting it back on. 

_”So… what happens if you take that thing off? They come after you and kill you?”_

_”No. You just can’t ever put it back on again.”_

Putting on the braces, the pauldrons, the breastplate, it all felt so soulless. Like on second he was stripping a dead trooper’s suit and the next blink of the eye he’s standing here and holding his helmet and wondering if he should simply let it fall to the ground and stay there.

He’s broken his creed. 

And… and it almost feels like it doesn’t matter. Whether or not he wears the helmet, whether or not he’s still a Mandalorian, he will do whatever it takes to save the kid and bring him home- back. Back to safety. Back to the Jedi.

Ah. There’s the sacrilege. 

He forces the helmet back on his face. It hisses shut and it fits. 

It feels right.

His chest aches.

-o-o-o-o-

He knows it was petty. It was impulsive. So much so that he’s shocked no one spoke up to stop him.

“Well, there goes the element of surprise,” he mumbles to himself after sending the message to Gideon. Yet… just imagining Gideon’s face as Din repeats the very same thing he was told in what feels like an eternity ago… it makes something so selfishly smug swell.

“Let him know we’re coming,” Cara says from beside him. “Made him realize he’s messed with the wrong Mandalorian.”

Din finds himself smiling under the helmet at her words, only for that smile to fade as he thinks about what they’re about to go up against.

“Gideon has an army.” He sighs. “We need help.”

A new voice speaks up, one that Din had almost forgotten was there. “That’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about…”

Din turns to find the Jedi sitting back in his chair, looking slightly nervous to be at the center of attention so suddenly. He cannot help but compare his timidness to Ahsoka Tano’s boldness. He keeps his comparisons to himself as the Jedi clears his throat. 

“I have friends. Back on Nevarro. I left them behind to find you, but they can help.”

Din frowns. “Nevarro is too far-”

“We won’t need to pick them up,” the Jedi rushes. “We- they have a ship. One of the fastest ships in the Mid Rim and manned by one of the greatest pilots I know. We can send them a message, and they’ll come to us.”

Cara hums and speaks slowly. “We could… but how do we even know they’ll be up for the challenge of infiltrating an Empire Cruiser?”

The Jedi shoots a shocking savage glare. There’s fire in his eyes for his friends; a fire that Din hasn’t seen in him yet within the short time he’s known him. “Don’t think for a moment that I’m the strongest in our crew—or the only one to know the Force. We’ve infiltrated Empire bases before. We’ve gone face-to-face with _Darth Vader_ and his Inquisitors and made it out alive more times than what I can count.” Din has no idea who this Vader is, but both Cara and Fenne’s eyebrows shoot up to their hairline at the name drop. “Trust me, the only reason I’m alive is because of them.”

The ship remains silent for a few moments, broken only by Cara. “As impressive as that is,” she says, “we can’t rely on them to come in time.”

The Jedi’s face falls and Din almost feels sorry for him, but they cannot hold off finding the kid for much longer. He stands up and folds his arms across his chest, his brain churning to try and make everything _work_.

After a few heartbeats, he thinks he might have an idea.

He turns to the Jedi. “Call your friends. They’ll be reinforcements. Late is better than never. As for more help now… there’s a planet nearby where I know there are more Mandalorians who will not say no to taking down an Empire ship.”

“More Mandalorians?” Asks Fennec with a disbelieving look twisting her facial features. Din thinks back to the Client… back to what started all of this… back to when finding the _metal_ was easier than finding a Mandalorian. Din supposes most people don’t expect to see a single one of his kind within their lifetimes, let alone a whole group. Din can attest that he’s had a harder time finding more Mandalorian’s than finding beskar.

He nods his head. “Yes. They will help us.”

And with that, it's settled. 

Fennec leaves to inform Fett of their new course. The Jedi follows along behind her to record his message. 

Din tries to shove Cal Kestis out from his head. He doesn't need to think about how he has powerful friends with a fast ship that know how to defend themselves from the Empire, even when it was still standing in charge of the galaxy. He doesn't need to to think of how the kid will be safer with them than he will ever be with Din.

Life on the run with a bounty hunter and a broken creed... it's no life for a kid.

He doesn't need to think about it. 

It doesn't stop him from thinking about it anyways.

-o-o-o-o-

Before they find Bo-Katan, they happen to find an Imperial Shuttle. It's close enough to Gideon's coordinates to assume that's where it's base is, therefore the only logical next course of action would be to use this to their advantage to gain inside information.

Finding Dr. Pershing aboard was simply an unexpected and welcome surprise. 

"Is the kid alive?"

"Yes," Pershing answers immediately. Eagerly. "He's on the Cruiser-" 

With a click and humm of a blaster being loaded, the pilot of the Shuttle grabs Pershing around the throat and holds the barrel to his head. Pershing cuts off with whimpered gasps. Din trains his gun on the pilot as Cara steps in besides him. 

"Stay back, Dropper," the pilot holding Pershing growls like the words taste foul. Cara, completely in character of herself, continues to point her blaster right at him.

"Easy, pal. Okay?" the second pilot says with a with his hands still raised, "I'm not with him- we can work something out-"

Din sees it a half a second before he can react. The first pilot brings his gun away from Pershing and towards his fellow Imp. Just as Din is sure he's about to watch an Imp that can actually be reasoned with die, there is a rush... of _something_ familiar blasting past him. By what seems to be the power of thin air alone, the gun is knocked out of the pilots hand and back towards the seats. 

The Jedi walks in besides Din, glaring at the man with his gloved hand raised and his other reaching towards where his laser-sword hangs at his hip. Now both pilots have their hands in the air, though one looks betrayed and the other one a mixture of shocked and pissed. Pershing, on the other hand, uses his head and stumbles forwards into Cara's waiting arms.

"A Jedi and a Rebel from Alderaan," the first pilot growls. "Traitors and terrorists. Your people deserved what came to them, and if the doctor dies, because of you, you'll both wish you died with them like you were supposed to."

Din doesn't see Cara flinch, but the way her eyes go cold as she pulls the doctor behind her is tell enough that what was said got to her. Din doesn't see Cal react, though Din doesn't know how a Jedi would normally react to a statement like that. Had there used to be more Jedi? Has the Empire hurt his people the same way they hurt Cara's?

" _Then again… there aren’t many Jedi left._ " Ahsoka Tano had said.

The second pilot seems too stunned by those words to say anything as the first one lets out a mocking chuckle, focusing on Cara as--he too—notices that he's gotten under her thick skin.

"I saw the tear. You want to know what else I saw? I saw your planet destroyed. I was on the Deathstar."

Cara's face twitches ever so slightly. A forced smile twitches her lips.

"Which one?"

He laughs. "Do you think you're funny? Do you know how many millions were killed on those bases?"

"Stop talking," Cara whispers, her blaster trained on his face.

"As the galaxy cheered?"

"Last chance."

"Destroying your planet was a small price to pay to rid the galaxy of terrorism."

There's a blast of red and a flash of orange. For a second, Din almost expects the pilot to fall back with a smoking hole between his eyes, but instead various sparks erupt from above as the blaster bolt hits the ceiling. In front of Cara stands the Jedi, his laser-sword out in full glory, humming with a promise. A threat. Din can't help but watch his face, the scarred side, as he scowls and looks the pilot straight in the eyes. He doesn't lower his sword, and Cara doesn't remove her outraged glare. 

"Another word," the Jedi hisses, "and I won't block her." The little robot on his shoulder beeps, as if in agreement.

Whether the pilot pales because of his brush with death, or if he's afraid of the two powerful beings before him who wouldn't mind him dead, it doesn't matter. His mouth stays closed, and he doesn't fight other than becoming stiff while Din puts cuffs over his hands. The second pilot comes almost as willingly as Dr Pershing. 

The New Republic will have three new prisoners, one of which Din knows will tell them what they need to know to save the kid. 

The Jedi turns his laser-swords off, the dangerous light returning to the hilt with a _zhip_. He turns towards Cara, and Cara's face softens to something vulnerable that Din can almost understand. 

A Mandalorian. An Alderaan Rebel. A Jedi. Three people who's kind have been hunted down and destroyed by the Empire. 

Din has a feeling that by the end of this, whatever remains of the Empire will regret every purge, every war, and every destruction of every culture they are responsible for. 

For the first time since Cal Kestis has joined their mission, Din is almost hopeful for the future.

-o-o-o-o-

In hindsight, Din should have warned Fett about Bo-Katan. She and her friends are powerful, but they have a different creed from Din, one that seeks culture and unity and _Mandalore_. Din seeks only to survive and life by the Way… and Fett seeks for things unknown. One thing is for sure, Din should have known he wouldn’t be the only one to question Fett’s rights to his armor.

Perhaps, to Bo-Katan, there’s more to being a Mandalorian than being a foundling like Fett’s father. More than having a creed—no matter what that creed is—to live by. As far as Din is concerned, Boba Fett has as much claim to his armor that Din has to his own, even if he’s never _said_ he was Mandalorian.

You don’t have to say you’re Mandalorian to be one anyway. If there’s one thing Din has learned throughout this whole adventure, there isn’t one set path to follow to be Mandalorian. To be Mandalorian is to own a broken shard to a stained-glass window that shattered generations ago; never to see the full picture and only working with what you’ve got to imagine it. There is no one Way.

There’s just _a_ Way. The Way you follow. 

He knows this now… even if he’s broken his Way.

Thankfully, regardless of Bo-Katan and Kosta Reeves’ anger towards Fett, they’ve decided to join them in exchange for the ship and a _Dark Saber_ … whatever that is. Din doesn’t care, as long as he gets the kid back.

(Just to lose to the Jedi…)

… At least now he knows why the Empire might recognize Fett’s face. However, that’s a story that Din probably doesn’t need to know. Fett can have his secrets, and clearly he was never a trooper for the Empire despite his genetic material. Besides, Fett must be a special case, as he’s pretty sure that if any Clones were still alive, they’d be much older than Fett.

Once they’re all either on the Imperial Shuttle or on Fett’s ship, Din realizes he probably should have warned the Jedi about Bo-Katan as well.

Din may be out of the loop when it comes to the history between Jedi and Mandalorians, but he does know they’re more often enemies than allies. When Bo-Katan walks into the Shuttle and sees the Jedi, her eyes immediately go down to the light sword hanging at his hip with a smirk on her lips. Din almost expects another fight… one that he’ll probably need to break up. Perhaps, to Bo-Katan, Ahsoka Tano was an exception to the generations of long grudges.

However, instead of saying anything outright offensive, she simply looks the Jedi in the eyes, her own filled with hidden meanings no one but herself understands.

She nods, then moves further into the shuttle—laughing silently to herself like there’s a joke lingering that only she understands. “I thought I sent you to Ahsoka,” says Bo-Katan, turning to Din.

“She sent me away,” he replies.

Bo-Katan shrugs and turns back to the Jedi. “You’re young. You couldn’t have been older than a child—sorry, _padawan_ —when the Clone’s killed your kind. Do you even remember the voices and faces of the men who destroyed them?”

The Jedi’s eyes narrow as he gives her a level look, seeing the challenge for what it is. “It doesn’t matter if I do or I do not. I’ve moved on from that part of my past a long time ago, and I’m stronger for it.”

Din takes it he doesn’t remember the voices and faces of the Clones all too well. And seeing as it’s been revealed the Clones were the driving force of the destruction of the Jedi… it might be wise to not poke the stick at that sleeping mudhorn until Boba Fett is no longer on their crew.

Thankfully, the interaction ends there with Bo=Katan smirking and placing her hands on her hips. She looks around the Shuttle with calculative eyes.

“Let's not waste anymore time,” she says. “Time to go.”

-o-o-o-o-

“Very well,” says Bo-Katan while looking at the Light-Cruiser hologram hovering before her. “We split into two parties.”

“Cal Kestis and I will go alone,” Din speaks up.

Bo-Katan looks slightly annoyed at the interruption, but she just rolls her eyes and returns to looking at the hologram. “Fine. Phase one, _Lambda_ shuttle issues a distress call. Two, we come in hot and emergency land at the mouth of the fighter launch tube, cutting off any potential interceptors…”

As Bo-Katan continues to explain her plan, Din shifts his eyes to where the Jedi listens with astute attention. Even the little droid on his shoulder remains silent.

Din would prefer to go completely alone, but the Jedi is here for the kid just as much as Din is.

This isn’t a mission about Din getting the kid back. It’s a mission about giving the kid back to the Jedi.

Besides, he thinks it will be easier to give the child back to his people if he didn’t have alone time with Din first.

This is the Way, even if it whirls an agonizing black hole right into his gut.

-o-o-o-o-

Of course, when they’re just about to reach the Light-Cruiser, Bo-Katan turns to remind them all that she’s not here simply out of the goodness of her heart.

“Moff Gideon is mine,” she says, giving every person besides her a very stern look, “got it?”

Cara raises an eyebrow. When she talks, her voice is drawled and unimpressed. “He’s ex-ISB. He’s got a lot of information. I need him alive.”

At least she sounds regretful about it. Honestly, Din couldn’t care less if Gideon survives this next encounter, whether he’s worth more alive to the New Republic or not.

As long as he gets the kid out of there. That’s all that matters.

Bo-Katan, however, has different priorities. “I don’t care what happens to him as long as he surrenders to me.”

“Then you shouldn’t go to the bridge,” the Jedi suddenly puts in. Everyone turns to find him watching Bo-Katan with his arms folded across his chest. “The Moff won’t be on the bridge.”

The droid beeps.

“How do you know?” Bo-Katan demands, looking ready to stand from the controls and throw hands.

The Jedi shrugs. “Smart Imperials don’t trust any old trooper to guard important things. Once he realizes it’s us who’re attacking his ship, he will go to Grogu himself. Besides… I have a feeling that’s where he will be.”

“A feeling?” Koska scoffs.

“He won’t be on the bridge,” the Jedi repeats, sounding as sure as beskar.

Bo-Katan studies the Jedi for a few heartbeats before she nods and returns to looking out into the distorted space of hyper-space outside the windshield of their stolen Shuttle. “Then it looks like your group of two has become three,” she says, giving a side glance with a smirk. She turns to Fennec. “You three can handle yourselves?”

“Without a doubt,” Fennec replies. “They won’t know what hit them.”

Din secretly turns his attention to the Jedi behind him, who looks busy mumbling to the droid on his shoulder. “Don’t worry BD, we’ll be fine. You’re here after all. She didn’t say it, but this is a team of _four_.”

There’s a crackle above as Fett makes contact from his ship. “Prepare to exit jump-space.”

Din takes a deep breath as Cara cracks her neck. “Let’s do this.”

-o-o-o-o-

Crash landing into Gideon’s Light-Cruiser goes about as well as can be expected. Cara, Fennec, and Reeves leave the shuttle with blasters blazing, taking out every trooper that dares to get in their way. Din, Bo-Katan, and Cal Kestis wait silently within the shuttle with a thick tension between the three of them. Din really didn’t want a large group involved in getting his kid, as he can’t fight every Stormtrooper that he comes across. He was hoping to simply sneak past them all until he makes it to where they’re holding the kid.

Having Bo-Katan join the retrieval group makes it so much more likely to get spotted and end up having to fight. Unfortunately, it’s not like he could tell her no. He might not have known her for terribly long, but he does know that what Bo-Katan wants, Bo-Katan will get. Telling her to stay out of this would be like telling the suns on Tatooine to stop rising. 

After a few minutes, silence reaches their ears from outside the Shuttle. Din walks slowly towards the lowered platform and studies the havoc left before him. Any Stormtroopers left in the bay are no longer alive. 

“Lets go,” Bo-Katan says while she stands and places her painted helmet over her head. Din makes his way down the ramp, listening to Bo-Katan and the Jedi follow close behind. Within just a few moments, they’re heading towards the brig with Dr. Pershing’s Data Stick clutched tight in his hands.

At first, heading down the long hallways go almost exactly how he thought they would. They’re forced to hide behind pillars and corners more than what he’s comfortable with throughout the journey despite it being just a couple of troopers at a time placed within their paths. 

Regardless, when Din is forced to scramble back when a whole group of troopers run past, he finds that if they continue the way they are, getting to the Dark-Troopers and then to the kid will take forever.

Too long. Time he does not have.

He turns towards the others. “I’m going ahead alone. You two follow along behind. This is taking too long, and we won’t get there in time if we continue together.”

“Moff Gideon is mine,” Bo-Katan reminds, which isn’t a _no_. 

Din nods. “You can have him. The kid is my only priority.”

The Jedi steps forward and looks at his visor like he can see straight through into Din’s eyes. “Good luck Din,” he says. “And may the Force be with you.”

Din’s lips thin under his helmet, but he nods back at the Jedi. He really needs to figure out what the phrase means.

“We’ll be right behind you,” Bo-Katan says like she’s warning him against doing something stupid like going up against Gideon without her. There’s no reassurance in the sentence like there should be, though it’s not like Bo-Katan is known for being reassuring. 

The large group of Stormtroopers pass by and Din finally finds himself rushing forward alone, leaving the Jedi and Bo-Katan behind to eventually catch up. He finds almost immediately that this was the right call, as all he needs to worry about is himself as he goes deeper and deeper into the Cruiser. He feels slightly more at ease while alone.

And, as he expected, he goes quicker than what he would if he had two other people and a miniature droid to worry about. Not drastically quicker… but just enough to get him to the cargo bay with an impressive amount of time to spare.

He walks around the corner, several minutes later, turning the Data Stick in his hands. All he needs to do is plug it into the control board and the preset commands will do the rest. However, he finds that this will be a whole lot more complicated than what he would like as the doors to the cargo bay come into his sight.

The _opening_ doors to the cargo bay. 

Around the doorway, he can hear heavy clanking of dense metal on the floor, marching to a beat of mechanical footsteps. His stomach drops.

He’s gotten here quick, but he didn’t come quick enough. 

“No. _No!_ ”

Din puts all of his energy into his legs, sprinting forward even as the doors continue to slide all the way open. Through his peripherals, he can see the long lines of Dark-Troopers, their eyes glowing red and their black metal armor glistening threateningly under the dewy frost still covering their surfaces. He almost stops right there to stare with his heart stuck in his throat with terror. These things look the definition of evil, and they were the ones who took his kid. If he doesn’t move _now_ , they will destroy everything he’s trying to save. So he continues running, ignoring them even as they march closer. He puts all of his trust into his beskar armor as he shoves the Data Stick into the control board. Immediately, the indicator lights flash red, and with a mechanical hum, the metal doors begin to slide closed.

Din runs in front of the doorway to watch the Dark-Troopers steadily approach regardless of the closing doors. He can’t tell if his heart has stopped out of fear or it’s pounding so rapidly he can no longer feel it. He whips out his blaster, clutching it with white knuckles beneath his gloves, and fires through the narrowing crack between the doors.

Metal, heartless, droid hands shoot out and grab the doors before they can seal closed. Din’s reminded why he hates droids as his blaster bolts do nothing against the armor, nothing to stop them. And the thing is? He knows it’s useless. He _knows_. But all he can do is stand there in complete horror and continue to hopelessly fire more rounds as the Dark-Trooper opens the door wide enough to fit it’s shoulders through with a lifeless, sinister glare.

Then, it suddenly surges forward, punching Din right in the beskar of his breastplate.

The force of the blow knocks all of the wind from his lungs and before he knows it he’s blinking through his visor on the ground, his back hitting hard enough on the far wall to rattle his ribs. Within the blindness of panic and pain, it’s all he can do to try and stay sitting upright with his blaster firing, praying to whatever luck that runs the galaxy to reveal any kind of weak spot.

He isn’t blessed by any sort of luck. By the time he’s just barely struggling to his feet, his firing arm is grabbed and twisted violently enough to tear a strangled groan from his throat. Cold hands then wrap around his throat and lift him so his feet dangle above the ground with hardly any effort. Din has just a second to process the free fist of the Dark-Trooper rising before it slams into the middle of his helmet. 

His beskar holds up, as it always does, but it doesn’t stop his vision from blacking out; his senses going haywire as his head is slammed back from the inside. His ears ring, and he can’t even catch his breath as his helmet is hit again. And again. And _again_. Crashing his skull back into the metal walls of the Cruiser until there’s a Din shaped dent in the wall. He’s hit another time, the electronics in his visor flashing bright enough to bring reluctant tears to his eyes. 

Another punch. Din can’t hear himself think.

And another. Heat washes over his body with a burst of steam. His helmet has broken through a pipeline.

He can’t let this continue for any longer. The rest of the Dark-Trooper garrison stand on the other side of the cargo bay doors, punching the glass and denting the metal. If the rest of these monsters get loose, then everything will be for nothing. Worthless. Truyly, a suicide mission. Grogu will be lost. Bo-Katan’s vision of Mandalore will be void. Cal Kestis’s desire to help will be for naught. If Din fails here, then it will be all of their blood on his hands. 

In a desperate move, Din uses the confusion of the steam to his advantage. He brings his gauntlet up while the Dark-Trooper is momentarily hindered. With a roar, fire erupts from his brace, aimed right at the exposed mid-section of the droid. Fire licks up from under the armor, sprouting like poisonous blossoms through the shoulders and neck. Din knows he’s screwed up, however, when the droid simply turns to him—looking more like a demon than a Devaronian—and throws him across the corridor.

Din lands with a thunk, metal ringing in his ears as his head spins. He heaves himself up by his elbow and glances behind to see the Dark-Trooper already stomping towards him with smoke steaming up from its hinges. The windows of the doors crack with the force of several punching droids. One Dark-Trooper is too much to handle, the least Din can do is make sure the rest do not escape. He scrambles up to grab the lever which will open the cargo hatch to the cold heart of space, but before he can do so a relentless hand wraps around the armor on his back.

His vision swims as he’s jerked away, and for a second Din thinks he’s about to be thrown like he weighs no more than a single coin in Calamari Flan once again, but then a screeching hum reaches his ears, and before he knows it he’s on the ground. He blinks up and turns to find the Dark-Trooper’s head removed from its body; the metal skeleton crashes to the ground with sparks and the reek of burning oil left in its wake.

Cal Kestis stands, his laser-sword drawn with two blades, looking more powerful than what Din feels he will never understand nor achieve. 

This is a man that can protect Grogu in a way Din will never be able to.

Din doesn’t allow himself to get stuck over that quite yet. He pushes himself to his feet and returns to the controls, grabbing the lever and pulling it down with a tremor running through his battered body from the effort.

Alarms blare as the cargo doors open, sucking all of the Dark-Troopers off along with the air out of the cruiser and shutting with a clank not a second too soon.

Din sighs and allows himself to stumble back ever so slightly; his signeted pauldron giving off a dull _thunk_ as it hits the metal wall. It takes every drop of his willpower to not slouch against the wall and pretend to not exist for a little while; he instead shoves himself forward so he’s fully supporting himself back on his feet. His entire body aches… almost as badly as the time he had a run in with the creature symbolizing his Clan of Two. He can push through it though, because he has to. He looks over at the Jedi—who’s put his laser-swords away and has adopted a concerned look on his scarred face.

“You alright?” Cal Kestis asks. Din shrugs.

“Bo-Katan? Where is she?”

“Got caught up with a few troopers,” Bo-Katan says while walking around the corner, her blasters raised near her head with caution. Once she sees that there’s no danger here, she lowers the weapons and turns her visor in a way that almost looks like she’s glaring at the Jedi. “Our Jedi ‘sensed’ you were in danger and ran ahead. Gave away our location. I stayed behind to clean up after him.”

Din doesn’t know what she meant by ‘sensed’, nor why she said it in the most disbelieving tone of voice he’s ever heard on her, but whatever the case Cal Kestis has probably saved his life at the most, and at the least made it so he’ll have less injuries to nurse when this is all said and done.

He nods at the Jedi. “Thank you.”

The Jedi returns the nod and smiles. The droid on his shoulder beeps, causing him to hum. “We should get going.”

Bo-Katan sighs, pushing past them and raising her blasters once again. “Then let’s stop talking and start moving.”

Din lets his eyes linger on the Jedi for a brush or time longer before he turns and follows Bo-Katan down the hallway, Kestis right on his heels.

-o-o-o-o-

There are two guards in front of the cell containing the kid. He doesn’t know what about him that says that he needs to do this alone for his own sake of mind—despite his injuries—but Bo-Katan and Kestis stay behind as he strides behind the corner with his beskar spear already in his hands.

One he impales, the other he uses the long weapon to choke out. It’s all said and done just within a few seconds, as he’s left standing there without a single drop of sweat to note.

They put two guards in front of his- _the_ kid’s cell door.

Pathetic.

He looks at the blinking controls that will open the brig. The only thing stopping him from moving forward and forcing the doors open is Kestis’s prediction that the Moff Gideon is in there, waiting.

His… the… Dank Ferrik, _Grogu_ is on the other side, yet he forces himself to stand and wait for his two companions to step up besides him to enter together. If he reaches forward a little quicker than necessary to activate the doors, no one calls him out on it.

The doors slide open, and Just as Din is about to look inside, a body slams into his side and causes him to go crashing away from the doorway. Din has just enough time to realize that the thing that shoved into him was Kestis, and that he just saved Din from running right into a brutal barrage of blaster-bolts. He vaguely hears a “blast ‘em!” through the sudden chaos.

It’s a trap.

Of course it is.

The kid isn’t here. What _is_ here—he finds as he and Kestis both scramble to their feet as Bo-Katan takes cover on the opposite side of the doorframe—is a small group of Stormtroopers armed with blaster-guns that are definitely not set to ‘stun’. Bo-Katan begins shooting inside the cell at every heartbeat of an opening, sparing Din and Kestis a single glance that screams at them to both get a move on and help.

“Cover me!” yells Kestis above the zipping cries of each bolt. Din doesn’t question the demand; he immediately presses his body to the doorframe opposite of Bo-Katan and begins to fire at the troopers still waiting within the cell. Kestis runs out right into the middle of the open doorway, his laser-sword once again humming in his hands as he spins the weapon around to deflect the bolts with seemingly effortless movements. 

Din only wonders what his plans are for a moment—because after a few mesmerizing spins of his sword, cutting each bolt out from the air before they can reach him, Kestis takes his gloved hand and reaches out towards the group with an intense look of concentration on his face. 

Din watches with a sickening mixture of fascination and… something like jealousy as the Stormtroopers’ all let out startled shouts as they each begin to float into the air as if the gravity has turned off. It shouldn’t make Din feel as sick as he does as Kestis demonstrates just how powerful he is. 

Din keeps almost forgetting that this is someone who can teach Grogu about his powers. Keep him safe in a way Din never can. It’s a cruel way to once again remind himself that he’s not here to save the kid and whisk him away back to Nevarro or Sorgan or even Tatooine. He’s here to return the kid safe and sound to his kind. The Jedi. Cal Kestis.

He needs to stop almost letting himself believe that this will end in any way involving Grogu and Din staying together. As tempting as it is to selfishly hope that maybe something works out just right to allow Din to take the kid away and return to Nevarro… to get a new ship and a new goal and a new plan to find a new place where they can lay low and Din can protect him from anyone ever finding and taking him ever again…

He can’t.

It’s wishful, dangerous thinking. He has a mission. A task. Whatever strange feelings he has about it doesn’t matter.

He didn’t set out in the first place to protect the kid for the rest of his life. He set out to find the Jedi. And here one is, Cal Kestis… and Din _shouldn’t_ feel like this.

A few troopers cry out in outrage and fear as they helplessly kick their legs and wave their arms in the air. A few try to shoot at Kestis, but he easily redirects any and all bolts that manage to get anywhere close to him with his laser-sword.

Then, the Jedi waves his arm to the side with one purposeful flick. The troopers cry out as they violently slam into the wall and into each other… there’s the sickening sound of bodies breaking. The ones that don’t die on impact are easily picked off from there.

Din desperately forces his breathing to remain even as he looks around the Grogu-less cell. Bo-Katan steps up besides him and takes off her helmet, her eyes filled with anger. When she speaks, it’s in a snarl. “Where is Gideon?”

“He knew we were coming,” Din says, feeling like an idiot. Of course Gideon knew they were coming. They were _planning_ on that. Din just didn’t expect Gideon to leave a lazy attempt of a trap behind.

Bo-Katan growls and begins to pace, looking so similar to a pissed animal that Din’s almost shocked that she doesn’t kick any corpses littering their feet in outrage. “He must have gone to the brig. Like I _knew_ he would.”

“No,” Kestis speaks up, walking in besides Din with his laser-sword still glowing brightly in his hand. His face is turned towards the ground, his eyes drawn partly closed with his brows all scrunched up… “He… left. With Grogu. He… panicked.”

“What are you going on about?” Bo-Katan growls, turning on him like she’s about to pounce on him and probably tear out his throat.

Din steps a little closer to Kestis… just in case.

“It’s Grogu… he- I think I can sense him,” Kestis explains, sounding unsure himself.

Din almost chokes on his next breath. “You’re talking to him?”

Kestis shakes his head. “It’s hard to explain. There’s… images and feelings. He knows I’m here, and he knows I’m here with you. I don’t think Gideon expected his Dark-Trooper to be defeated as easily as it was. He’s…” his eyes widen. “He’s running.”

“Where?!” Bo-Katan snarls.

“Shuttle bay!” Kestis turns, his poncho turling on his hips and the droid beeping in surprise as it readjusts it’s hold. “This way! Hurry! He’s trying to escape with Grogu!”

Din doesn’t have to be told twice. Bo-Katan shoves her helmet back onto her head and sprints alongside Din.

This magic stuff… Din may have no idea how it works, but as they follow Kestis down through the Cruiser with his confident turns and strides, he knows that Kestis is somehow using it to lead them exactly to where they need to go. Once again, that black hole settles in his stomach with the fact that he’s so _so_ under-qualified to have ever considered Grogu to be _his_.

He can’t even find the kid right. 

Kestis makes another sharp turn, almost causing Din to slide on the cold, metal flooring. Next thing he knows he’s dodging out of the way of yet another red blaster-bolt that’s come from seemingly nowhere. He jumps behind a pillar, Kestis and Bo-Katan do the same, as they find they’ve almost ran right into the middle of another group of Stormtroopers.

Only this time, Gideon is here, standing in front of them all with the kid in his arms and a black laser-sword held out threateningly in front of him.

“Did your senses not warn you of another ambush-” Bo-Katan begins to snarl through what's definitely ground teeth. Kestis looks ready to argue back, but Din is so _tired_. The kid… is right here. 

He can see the kid clear as day, even from behind the pillar. He doesn’t look harmed, but he’s wearing achingly small cuffs and held in a way that must be uncomfortable. 

Din can’t just stand here and allow arguments to proceed. Allow Gideon to get what he wants.

With a deep breath, Din walks out from behind the pillar with his hands already raised in the air.

“Wait,” he says quickly as every trooper’s blaster-gun focuses on him. Bo-Katan and Kestis’s arguing falls quiet as Din stops in front of the threat. “Wait. I just want the kid.”

“Drop the blaster,” Gideon says, his face a picture of barely contained glee. He brings the light sword closer to the kid, and all Din can focus on is the small coo the child makes as Din drops his blaster to the ground. “Now kick it over to me.” Din does so. Gideon snickers. “Very nice.”

“Give me the kid.”

“The kid is just fine where he is,” Gideon says simply. Din frowns, wishing things could go easy for once. Gideon waves the laser-sword in front of him, bringing it way too close to the kid’s face than what Din finds comforting. Gideon notices Din watching and smirks. “Mesmerizing, isn’t it? Used to belong to Bo-Katan. Yes, I know who’s under the extra suit of armor over there. A friendly piece of advice? Assume I know everything. Like the fact that I know your new friend, Cal Kestis, isn’t even a real Jedi Knight.”

Suddenly, a black figure steps to the front of the group and stands next to Gideon. Din’s so startled by the arrival that he almost misses the way this trooper breathes. It’s not another Dark-Trooper, but a tall man dressed in dark armor with a large staff on his back. Gideon smugly acknowledges the man with a nod as Kestis releases an audible gasp.

“So, the Jedi recognizes my friend. I picked him up not too long ago. He didn’t mind digging out his old Purge Trooper armor when I told him Cal Kestis would be here.”

The man doesn’t say anything, and Din doesn’t really care. He steps forward slowly, gaining full attention from Gideon. 

“Where are you going with this?” Asks Din, forcing himself to keep his eyes on Moff Gideon even as the child coos and tilt’s his head at the mention of the Jedi.

“This is where it’s going. In front of me are two Mandalorians who want two very different things. They say a foundling is the most important thing to your kind, but in my other hand I hold the Dark Saber. Would you like to know why Bo-Katan wants this so badly? Because it brings power. Whoever wields this sword… has the right to lay claim to the Mandalorian throne.”

“You keep it. I just want the kid.”

Din didn’t mean to say that… especially with Bo-Katan right behind him. However, he doesn’t take it back.

He means it.

And Din… he usually keeps deals and promises close to his heart. However, it’s not like Bo-Katan herself hasn’t changed the terms of a deal before. Besides, Din’s been compromising a lot of things he was raided to hold in importance. What’s one more?

It doesn’t stop him from almost being surprised that Bo-Katan stays where she is and doesn’t protest in outrage. Moff Gideon seems to think the same thing, his eyebrows rising in a quirk.

“Very well,” he turns the Dark Saber off. “I’ve already got what I want from him. His blood. All I wanted was to study his blood. This Child is extremely gifted… and has been blessed with rare properties that have the potential to bring order back to the galaxy. I see your bond with him. Take him, but you will leave my ship immediately and we will go our separate ways.”

And Din knows it’s another trap. Why else would Gideon go through all the trouble to lead Din here with a squad of troopers… and a man calling himself a Purge Trooper? He can hear it in the Moff’s voice, even as he lowers the kid down to the floor while the Stormtroopers behind him shuffle in confusion and nervousness. And yet… Din cannot find it in himself to care. To say no. The kid stands weakly on the ground--his cuffed hands making him look so much smaller than what he already was--looking right at Din with so much trust and expectancy…

Din walks forward as Gideon steps aside, prompting his troopers to do the same. Din bends down to finally gather the kid into his arms, but then what he knew would happen _happens_. With a screech, Gideon releases his Dark Saber. Din forces himself to turn from the kid and block the blow with his gauntlets. 

“Take the Asset to my ship!” roars Gideon as he bears down on Din with the sword. He can feel the beskar heating up. “This one is mine.”

And once again, Din can do nothing but watch as the Purge Trooper yanks the kid up from the floor before taking off in the opposite direction with two other troopers on his heels. Din can’t even attempt to follow before Gideon swings the sword back and forward. Din can only bring out his beskar staff to block the next blow.

What follows next is pure chaos. Chaos that involves Din exchanging a number of savage blows between himself and Gideon as Kestis and Bo-Katan jump out from behind their hiding places to meet the remaining Stormtroopers head-on.

It’s chaos that Din doesn’t have the time for.

The Dark Saber swings down at his unarmored neck, forcing Din to slam the butt of his spear into the floor and hold it upright as the sword sparks against the pure beskar. The metal heats up to a dangerous orange. Gideon smirks like he’s thinking he’s gained the upper-hand, but Din doesn’t allow him to think that for long as he kicks his heel back against his spear. The weapon swings backwards, forcing Gideon off balance and forward, vulnerable to an immediate counter-strike. Gideon just barely manages to catch his balance to bring the Dark Saber up to block the blow, but it also forces him to take a few steps back.

Seeing that he’s thrown Gideon out of the haughty fight-mode he was in, Din separates himself from the battle with a few precise retreating steps.

He curls his fists and there’s a whir. Gideon’s eyes widen as Din’s army of Whistling Birds launch from his gauntlet, the sound they make as they zip through the air is exactly as their namesake suggests.

Most of the birds go towards Gideon, causing miniature electric bursts as he struggles to fend them off with the sword. The rest, however, go to the surrounding Stormtroopers. He doesn’t take them all down, but he takes enough down to leave an opening. 

One he does not hesitate to take. 

He jumps over the body of a fallen trooper and shoves through the rest as they focus more on the remaining birds. Gideon shouts, but Din ignores him.

He hears the last Whistling Bird hit a mark, then frantic footsteps accompanied by Gideon’s yelling. Din is about to pick up the pace before he hears a mighty clang from behind.

He looks back for just a moment to see Bo-Katan with her back towards Din, her gauntlets raised to block the Dark Saber.

“Get your kid,” she shouts. He can hear the smirk in her voice as she leans against Gideon’s sword and repeats what was said earlier. “This one’s mine.”

Behind her, Kestis runs his laser-sword through a Stormtrooper’s chest and lets them fall to the ground. “We have this! Go!”

Din doesn’t have to be told again. He turns tail and he _runs_.

He’s coming kid.

He’s coming.

-o-o-o-o-

Cal watches Din go for just a breath before he returns to fighting, whispering a simple prayer under his breath.

“And may the Force be with you…”

-o-o-o-o-

Din doesn’t remember the last time he’s run so fast. His breath is coming in short gasps as his beskar seems to become heavier than normal. He’s not sure how far he is behind the Purge Trooper that took the child, and he isn’t exactly confident that he’s heading in any kind of correct direction, but… there isn’t much more that he can do besides _try_.

Trying and failing is more honorable than sitting down and giving up.

All that he knows at this point is that he has to do whatever it takes to get the kid out of danger. If achieving that involves a headless poultry chase through an Imperial Cruiser searching for any sign of some sort of Shuttle Bay, then so be it.

The lengths Din will go to for the kid are limitless. He’s broken his creed for him. He will not give up the chase here.

He’d rather die.

Thankfully, it isn’t too long before he comes across a Stormtrooper waiting for him. It’s just a single one left behind in perhaps an attempt to slow Din down. It’s laughably easy to whip out his blaster and sharp-shoot the bastard down.

It must be thanks to whatever powers run the galaxy that Din happens to run right into a large, open room that faces out towards the empty heart of space with a simple energy field. There are multiple shuttles located within the Bay, however, Din’s eyes immediately lock onto the Purge Trooper who stands within the middle of the Bay with his staff held in front of him.

“You’re a fool if you think you can beat me,” the Purge Trooper sneers under their helmet, their voice modulated to sound sinister. Din carefully steps fully into the Bay, careful to not move his head as he turns his eyes this way and that to find the kid and the third Stormtrooper he’s surely with. “I have been trained to kill those who are much stronger than you. Jedi.”

Din glares at the Purge Trooper from behind his visor. It’s one thing for Din to doubt himself within his own mind, but to hear an enemy say it in such a mocking tone? Well… what can Din do but to prove him wrong?

“Then you’ve never fought a Mandalorian before.” Din takes his spear into his hands in front of his body. “Tell me where the kid is and I’ll let you live.”

The Purge Trooper scoffs. They widen their stance into something that reminds Din of a skilled predator, both ends of the staff erupt into violent purple energy. “Then you are a fool. You will soon find that a whole army of Stormtroopers cannot amount to my skill. You are outmatched.”

Din sneers. “I like those odds.”

Din charges forward and slams his spear forwards. The Purge Trooper blocks the blow with a spray of sparks. Din can feel the energy even from this distance; it won’t be easy getting back up if he’s victim of a direct hit, especially with his previous scrapes and bruises from the Dark-Trooper earlier that seem persistent in reminding him they’re still here. 

He will just have to not get hit.

The Purge Trooper slams his staff forward, causing Din to back off and wait for the next move. The Purge Trooper doesn’t keep him waiting, as in a series of deadly accurate moves the Purge Trooper swings the staff and forces Din back; less he wishes to be hit.

With a jump, the Purge Trooper swings the staff overhead. Din brings his beskar spear above his head to block the blow, but the sheer skill and power of the move causes Din to lose his balance and almost get a face-full of violet electricity. Din forces himself to recover, swinging out his spear to retaliate. He manages to drive the Purge Trooper back a few steps before they attempt to hit Din once again. Din blocks the blow, but suddenly his entire being is flooded with agony as the Trooper finally gets a rabid blow in before Din can bring his spear up to block it.

Din’s limbs seize up against his will, and next thing he knows he’s on his back and panting through gritted teeth that taste of copper. He sees the shadow before the killing blow lands. In an act based purely on his own will-power, he brings his spear up and redirects the Purge Trooper’s momentum into the floor by his head.

With barely contained trembles, Din kicks out and lands a hit right in the center of the Purge Trooper’s chest. The enemy lets out a grunt and trips over their feet backwards. Din uses the opportunity to jump to his feet and swing his spear around his head like a bat. It's not really how a spear should be used, but it does the trick as he hits the side of the Purge Trooper's bug-like helmet. The material that makes his armor is stronger than standard plastoid, but it does the trick as the material cracks and the red visor shatters. The Purge Trooper hollers and loses even more of their precious balance. 

Din now knows that he has the upper-hand. Din may not be terribly masterful of the weapon he wields, but he's Mandalorian. Weapons are his religion. He knows enough. He blocks the Purge Trooper's angry and sloppy attempt to jab at Din's stomach, but there isn't any way that Din's letting himself get hit by that again. He can feel the painful energy in every one of his limbs, threatening weeks of trembling.

But he's nothing if not persistent. He knocks the staff to the side and out of the Purge Trooper's hands. Before his enemy can even try to make a mad dash for it, Din slams his entire body into the man and brings them both crashing ungracefully to the floor. Din straddles him and presses down with the spear with both of his hands to choke out the Purge Trooper. 

In a desperate move, the Purge Trooper knocks Din off balance and grabs the spear near Din's hands. Din finds himself landing on his back with the Purge Trooper above him. They both struggle with the spear for a moment before Din suddenly let's go of one side. 

With a shout, the Purge Trooper almost falls off to the side. Din uses the opportunity to bring out his vibro-blade and jam it right through the hard armor near the Purge Trooper's heart... assuming they're human. 

And it seems Din is correct on his assumption, as most Imperials are humans. The Purge Trooper jerks and gurgles out a gasp. Life leaves them quickly, leaving their body to slump against Din.

Din frees his vibro-blade and shoves the Purge Trooper off from his body. Red glistens on the blade and on his gauntlets, red that he wipes away with his cape as he forces himself once again to his feet, panting. 

He could really use a long nap right now. However, there are more important matters right now. Like finding the kid. 

"Grogu?" He calls out, not really expecting an answer. 

Shockingly enough, he gets one. A childish shout on the other side of the Bay in reply, followed by a frantic shush. 

Din keeps his spear in one hand and the vibro-knife in the other as he walks as quickly as he can without running over to the sound. There, he finds the last Stormtrooper huddled behind a pile of cargo-crates with the kid clutched in their hands. Din suspects the Stormtrooper was told to wait for the Purge Trooper to take out Din, and now that the powerhouse of the group is dead the trooper took to simply trying to hide. 

Din opens his mouth to demand the return of the kid, but before he can the Stormtrooper jumps to their feet and holds the kid out with shaking hands. The child coos happily. 

"Take it! Just don't hurt me!"

Grogu babbles something that sounds annoyed at the _'it'_ , but Din doesn't correct the Stormtrooper now. He brings his spear to his back, attaching it there, and leaves his vibro-blade in the other as he reaches forward and finally takes the kid into his arms. The second the child is safely secured in his grasp, the Stormtrooper stumbles away with their hands in the air. 

"I... Can I... Go?" The Stormtrooper asks, nervousness shaking their voice. When Din doesn't answer immediately, the trooper continues to stumble over words. "I didn't- I was _drafted_ okay? Years ago, when the Empire was still in control. It's all I've known since... But I- I don't want to hurt any kids. I swear."

Din lowers his blade slightly. "Fine. Go."

The Stormtrooper nods frantically and backs up like they're afraid Din will change his mind and charge. Once he sees that Din is just going to watch, the trooper turns and begins to run towards the Bay entrance. 

Of course, right when Din thinks that's the end of it and all of this can finally be over... something more goes wrong. There's the familiar sound of a laser-sword discharging, and the next thing Din knows is that he's watching a blade glowing an impossible block running through the retreating Stormtroopers back. 

Moff Gideon pulls back the Dark Saber with a disinterested look, allowing the trooper to fall to the ground dead. A smaller-than-before group of Stormtroopers file in behind him, sending a seed of unease down Din's throat. 

He doesn't see Bo-Katan or the Jedi. 

Gideon turns to Din, allowing Din to see the signs that he's definitely just come out of a battle. His cape is torn, and there's singe marks all over the rest of his uniform. Down the side of his face is a hastily wiped away trail of blood, and he seems to be favoring his left leg. 

Gideon regards Din for a moment as, one by one, the rest of the troopers notice Din as well. Din quickly covers the kid with his own cape—careful to use the section where there's no spots of enemy blood—and switches his vibro-blade out for his blaster. Then, Gideon looks at the dead Purge Trooper that's been left on the ground. Nothing in his face gives away what he thinks of that, which only serves to put Din a little more on edge. 

"Where are the others?" Din demands, bringing Gideon's attention back to himself. 

Gideon smirks. "You shouldn't worry, you'll be seeing them soon." He says it in such a way that suggests Bo-Katan and Kestis are _dead_. Anger invades Din's senses as he widens his stance to fight for his and Grogu's life. The Moff sees this, and he laughs. "Oh, Djarin, there will be no need for that. In fact," he turns towards the energy field separating the Cruiser from open space, "I won't need to lift a finger to finally be done with you."

Din carefully follows Gideon's line of sight. What he sees makes his blood run cold. There's a black being, almost as dark as space itself, rocketing towards the ship at break-neck speeds. Din watches in growing horror as the familiar droid bursts through the energy field and lands on the floor of the Bay with a deafening _thunk_. 

The Dark-Trooper stands from where it's landed and turns its red visor right onto Din. Gideon laughs as one by one, more Dark-Troopers enter the Bay. Din might have had a fighting chance against just one of them, but this will surely get him killed. 

As the Dark-Troopers all begin to approach Din one metal step after another, Gideon flicks his cape and takes towards the closest Shuttle with his small group of Stormtroopers. The Dark-Troopers completely ignore them, having all eyes for Din and the child covered by his cape. Before Gideon enters the Shuttle, he turns back to give Din one last victorious look. “I’ll be back to retrieve the child after you and your friends are picked off. One. By. One.”

He releases a final chuckle from his gut before entering the Shuttle and allowing the ramp to close behind him.

As the Shuttle begins to hover in the air, Din turns and sprints with the child clutched to his chest. The Dark-Troopers continue after him, and if he listens closely he can hear distant thuds of more Dark-Troopers entering the ship from other places. 

He takes every turn that he thinks he remembers taking before, searching close to hysterics to find where he’s left Bo-Katan and Cal Kestis behind. His entire body protests at every step and his legs want nothing more than to give out and let him rot on the floor. But the child… the kid’s hands are curled around the top of one plates of beskar on his chest… and he cannot let his body’s aches and pain dos fail the both of them now.

Later he can rest. Later he can heal. Now is the time for action.

If he stops now, he will die.

His heart almost bursts from his chest in both joy and worry when he rediscovers the corridor where he last saw his team-mates. Joy, because both Kestis and Bo-Katan are standing and alive. Worry because they’re both leaning rather heavily against each other.

Injured. They’re both injured, and Din has no idea how that’s even possible. Both are so much stronger than he is. What happened when he was separated from them?

The child coos when he sees the Jedi, alerting the two of them to Din’s arrival.

Kestis looks pale, and Bo-Katan doesn’t need to take off her helmet for Din to know that she is not happy.

“You found him,” Kestis says, looking right at Grogu. The kid whines and curls up closer to Din’s chest. 

Din swallows and nods, rushing closer to get a better look at them. Bo-Katan looks the worst off, as she’s sporting a nasty looking gash in the vulnerable part of her side between blades of beskar. “We have to get out of here,” he says, grabbing onto Bo-Katan’s arm and wrapping it around his shoulders. She lets out a hiss that’s just barely concealed by the helmet still covering her face. “The Dark-Troopers are re-boarding the ship.”

“The bridge,” Bo-Katan says stiffly. “It has blast doors.”

Din nods, shoving all of his own aches to the back of his mind to deal with later as he struggles to carry the kid and drag Bo-Katan down the hallway. He makes it only a couple steps before he notices something.

Kestis isn’t following.

He turns his head to find Kestis just… standing there. The stick to his laser-sword rests in his hand, giving away that strange look in his eyes. 

“You’re injured too,” Din says, struggling to not growl. Din doesn’t know where he’s hurt, but growing up in an underground base filled with people that always wore helmets and armor, he’s become very good at searching for this kind of body language. “Don’t be a hero.”

Kestis shakes his head. “I have BD-1… and three STIM’s left. I’ll be fine.”

He looks Din in the eyes, as if the visor didn’t exist. “Get Grogu to safety. Don’t worry about me.”

Din reluctantly nods and is about to turn and begin making his way to the bridge, knowing this will just end up being an argument that will simply waste time, when Kestis calls out. 

“Bo-Katan.” Kestis takes a step forward, holding a little green pill-like item between his thumb and finger. “Here.”

Bo-Katan huffs. “Keep it. You will need it more than I will.”

Kestis looks like he wants to argue, but he thankfully doesn’t. He jams the STIM into his arm and immediately looks slightly better, though he still looks a little pale. Din wonders if it’s because he’s been using a whole lot of that magic stuff lately. Grogu is always exhausted after using his powers. 

As Kestis turns towards where the loudest of the Dark-Troopers seem to be, Din can only hope that they’ll see each other again. He was joking earlier about something coming up and Din being able to keep the kid. He kind of likes this Jedi… and it will take forever to find another one. 

“May the uh, Force be with you,” Din says before he finally turns to go.

“And with you,” Kestis replies quietly as they leave him behind to defend them all.

And if Din feels cowardly running like this, he doesn’t admit it, even to himself. A child's claws dig into his armor, and a fellow Mandalorian leans wounded against his side. He knows deep down that retreating and leaving the one person capable enough to take on the Dark-Troopers behind to protect them is the right call.

Besides, if running means the kid remains safe… then so be it. No shard of pride is too important. He can take this blow.

-o-o-o-o-

There is only one close call heading back to the bridge, and that close call involves simply deciding to go a different direction when Din spots a group of four Dark-Troopers heading down the corridor he was going to go down.

Din’s pretty sure he’s never been more stressed in his life. Or well, maybe not. There’s been plenty of other times where he’s been so stressed he could feel the pressure like it would split his ribcage from the inside. However, this time, there’s so much to focus on. So much to worry about. It all feels so sharp and so real and so fake all at the same time. The edges of his vision has gone blurry minutes ago, and he’s not sure if it’s the exhaustion… or the way he can’t seem to pull in a full breath… or if it’s the non-beskar part’s of his visor suffering from the barrage of attacks from the last Dark-Trooper he went up against. 

None of it matters. He has to keep going.

Bo-Katan has stopped taking to fully reeling in just how much pain she’s in after Kestis was finally out of earshot. The wound on her side is definitely agonizing. 

When he finally comes around a corner to find the bridge just a short distance away, Din begins to focus on nothing but the way his legs move. Not the pain, not the worries, nothing. That is, really, just until Bo-Katan finally breaks the silence between them.

“One of his troopers got involved,” she says through choked vocal chords dripping with pain. “Gideon got a hit in on me in the confusion.”

“I’m sorry,” Din says… because he really doesn’t know what else to say.

Bo-Katan shakes her head. “If it were a real duel between Mandalorians, the Dark Saber would be mind as default. But he ran the moment he could with it.” She stops with a hiss as Din picks up the pace, the sound of Dark-Troopers coming ever closer.

“I’m sorry,” Din repeats. “I haven’t held up my end of the deal.”

Bo-Katan scoffs. “You have. You led me to him and left him for me. And after your Jedi gets rid of our pest problem, the ship will be mine.”

“I promise, if I ever see Gideon again, I will bring him to you.”

Now Bo-Katan lets out a genuine chuckle, hindered only slightly by her pain. “You will leave him alone and bring me to him. I have to fight him, otherwise the Dark Saber will not be mine.”

And Din understands now why she wanted to fight Gideon herself so badly. It’s a good thing Din didn’t try and fight Gideon. He wouldn’t want to become the accidental ruler of Mandalorians on top of everything else that he’s already just barely struggling to deal with.

Finally, Din drags Bo-Katan—who immediately straightens her posture as much as she can—into the bridge with the child babbling happy nonsense as Cara comes into view. Reeves strides forward and takes Bo-Katan from Din’s shoulders; they both walk away to exchange quick and hushed words. Cara, meanwhile, rushes up to Din and looks him up and down with worry twisting her facial features. 

“You found him,” she breathes. She looks behind Din and frowns. “Where’s Kestis?”

Din's eyes travel towards the control boards that house the security feeds. He walks past Cara and turns on the camera, searching the ship for the camera that will show him what he's looking for. 

It doesn't take long to find Kestis. The man stands tall in the grainy video, waving his laser-sword and cutting through the hoard of Dark-Troopers that have already arrived. A couple are already at his feet in burning pieces, but there's many more on the way. The Dark-Troopers seem more interested in taking him out first before heading to the bridge. 

Din's lips thin as an impulsive thought invades the forefront of his mind. 

He takes a deep breath, then in an act that surprises both Grogu and Cara, he shoves the kid forward into her hands. "Take care of him," he says, taking the beskar spear into his grasp and turning back to the doors. 

It's the closest Din has ever heard Cara to squawking as she awkwardly gets a better hold on the kid. "Where are you going?" She demands. "The Dark-Troopers-"

"Are back on board," Din finishes. "  
I'm going to help Kestis. He can't fight them all alone, and I can't lose the one Jedi who..."

Who actually wants to help. Who traveled across the galaxy to find Din and the kid. Who says he will train the kid without any deals to be placed and broken.

The kid calls out frightfully, but Din forces himself to ignore it. "Close the blast doors behind me," he says. 

"Are you insane?" Fennec hisses, stomping up to him and tugging him back to face her by the straps of his pauldron. "You're going to get yourself killed, mando!" 

Din looks at her for a moment, then looks back at the kid who's reaching out with his little hands towards Din like he would much rather Din hold him again... 

Din shrugs his shoulder out from Fennec's hand. "Protect the kid."

Ignoring everyone who calls out to him, he begins to walk back towards the exit, only to be stopped when a group of Dark-Troopers suddenly turn the corner down the hallway. Despair fills his veins as one's visor zeroes in on him, raising the blaster in its hands. When the blaster fires, it hits him in the beskar covering his chest. However, the sheer force of the bolt is strong enough to send him stumbling back to fall on his ass. He can feel the skin on his chest burning and aching despite the armor, the smell of his own burning under-clothes reach his nose. 

In the end, he can only sit there and catch his breath as the blast-doors slam shut. 

Well, there goes that plan. 

He leans back on his hands, breathing hard through the pain. If it weren't for Cara promptly helping him up and pushing the kid back into his arms, he probably would have laid down and passed out. 

Instead, he returns the spear back to its place on his back and curls the kid into both of his arms, holding him close as he limps over to the camera feed. His entire body feels close to shutting down, but the least he can do is watch the Jedi as he fights for all of their lives as Dark-Troopers begin to try and knock down the blast doors. 

The feed is hard to make out thanks to the constant moving lights of both Kestis's sword and of the Dark-Trooper blaster-bolts, but Din can see enough. Kestis is fighting with a wrath that Din's never seen before, moving in ways that shouldn't be possible. He seems to know when something is coming up from behind, and his reaction time doesn't seem to be at a human's level. Din's almost... enchanted by watching. However, he's brought back to real life when a Dark-Trooper finally gets a hit in and sends Kestis rolling across the hallway and out of frame of the camera's frame.

When Din finds him again, he's standing against the wall and holding his arm. He's taken another STIM capsule. 

He has one left, and he still isn't looking too good. The lights on the droid attached to his shoulder are going haywire. 

He's not going to make it. Not for much longer. 

Then, suddenly, Fennec calls out as alarms begin to blare overhead. "We're being boarded!"

Din looks over to where Fennec is leaning over a table with a radar built into it. It's orange screen glows as the pin spins, revealing a large craft practically on top of them.

Turning back to the security feeds, Din finds Kestis standing within the wreckage of all the Dark-Troopers in his immediate area panting. The rest of the Dark-Troopers have paused... as has the ones trying to tear down the blast doors. 

Din changes the feed towards the only Bay large enough to welcome a ship as large as their guest. The video reveals that it's just landed; it's ramp lowering ever so slightly as several Dark-Troopers wait outside. 

Then, a bright flash of light launches from the ramp, zipping through the air in a circular, spinning motion and hitting every Dark-Trooper in a way that defies physics. The light rapidly moves back to the ship and into the hands of a cloaked figure. 

"A lightsaber," Bo-Katan breathes, almost startling Din from the chair. "That's a Jedi..."

Din looks at the figure more closely, and there's no denying who this person is even with Din's lack of expertise. The person holds a double bladed laser-sword... lightsaber and meets the incoming Dark-Troopers with moves Din's only seen on a Jedi. Behind this Jedi, another cloaked figure walks out with a shattered crystal in their hands. 

Together, they make their way deeper into the Cruiser, one cutting down each Dark-Trooper they run across with terrifying power, and the other completely decimating everything they hit with strange, cloudy bursts of light from the crystal.

"They're going to Kestis," Din says in realization as he follows the newcomers with the security feeds. 

A strange sound catches Din’s attention, one that comes from where he’s still cradling the child. He looks down to see the kid cuddled in tight to Din’s chest, watching the feed with narrowed eyes and… distressed little noises leaving his vocal chords. Din gets the feeling that Grogu doesn’t like these newcomers very much, though he cannot guess as to why. They’ve completely decimated every Dark-Trooper that has come their way… they’re _helping_.

Din will just have to be careful when the time comes to meet these people… just in case.

He watches with the others as finally, the newcomers make it to the corridor Kestis is fighting through. Together, they make quick work of the enemies around them… and then Kestis embraces them in clear eagerness before they move towards the bridge together.

“Those must be the ‘ _friends_ ’ he was talking about earlier,” Cara says softly.

Din agrees immediately, feeling that old black hole again in his gut.

Of course Kestis’s friends are this powerful. Capable. Easily able to protect and train Grogu in whatever way he needs.

It’s all he can do to keep himself from flinching when he hears them arrive outside the blast-doors, completely destroying the very last of Gideon’s aces. 

They come to a stop outside the doors, and Din knows that while Gideon has escaped, he has completely lost this battle.

And Din isn’t sure why he feels like he’s lost as well when he turns to Reeves. “Open the doors,” he says, just barely managing to keep his voice from wobbling. He stands up with the kid still in his grasp and walks so he’s facing the entrance as they begin to open.

There’s a steady stream of smoke before anyone actually steps through, but Kestis is the first to enter. He’s looking as exhausted as Din feels, but when he sees everyone watching him his face splits into a nervous smile. The laser-sword—lightsaber right?—in his hands turns off as he hooks it onto his belt. “Everyone,” he greets, “these are my friends.”

And in walks the two newcomers. Both look feminine, but one doesn’t appear to be entirely human. The other Jedi, a graying old woman with sharp eyes and a ‘ _don’t mess with me_ ’ aura about her regards everyone in the room with clear judgment until she settles on the kid in Din’s arms. Grogu huffs in clear discomfort and presses his face into Din’s chest.

The second woman, however, smiles. “Greetings. I am Cal Kestis’s friend.”

“This is Merrin,” Kestis says. He puts his hand on the shoulder of the second woman. “And this is Cere Junda, a Jedi Master.”

And just like that, Din knows this… whole thing is over. Gideon is gone, the ship is empty, the Dark-Troopers have been defeated.

And… and he doesn’t know what to do. He almost feels like he’s been frozen in carbonite and left on a planet plagued by blizzards. He opens his mouth, but his throat closes up. He’s not aware of how tightly he’s holding the kid until he hears a small whine.

He loosens his hold and opens his mouth… only for his throat to choke up again.

It’s… It’s time to say goodbye… he knows it. He can see it in the way Cere Junda looks at the child, then to him, with eyes that are clearly filled with wisdom and experience beyond his understanding… 

He needs to say goodbye. He can’t wait for the Jedi’s to do it for him.

This has to be him.

He takes a step forward, and the whole bridge goes quiet as if they understand what he’s about to do. They all probably _do_ understand. Cara knows exactly what the mission the Armorer gave him involved. He’s told Bo-Katan and Reeves why he needed a Jedi when they first met. Fennec… probably doesn’t quite know but the tension in the room cannot be sliced by even a vibro-blade, and it’s impossible to miss.

He stops a few paces in front of Kestis and closes his eyes to compose himself. 

Right when he’s about to open his eyes and get it over with, he feels a little hand curl around the bottom lip of his helmet and at the fabric around his neck… and Din very suddenly cannot _imagine_ leaving this ship without the kid. The thought of handing him over to the Jedi… giving him away… it makes him feel like he’s going to throw up.

Is this how his mentor… his adoptive _buir_ felt all those years ago when Din was ready to swear to the creed?

No… no this couldn’t be what he felt. This is too painful. Din swearing to the creed was something expected of him. Something he was raised to achieve. It was the goal from the start… and while he loved his _buir_ like his real flesh-and-blood father… it was still a joyous occasion for the _both_ of them when he finally became his own warrior.

There is no joy in this.

This is just… separation.

Loss.

He looks at Kestis, his mind feeling calm and clear for the first time… for the first time in a long, long time. He’s come to a decision he should have met ages ago… even if this decision is a dangerous thing.

He opens his eyes.

“He does not want to go with you.”

“What?” Kestis asks with his eyebrows rising in confusion. The other Jedi, Junda, folds her arms across her chest and gives a narrowed look, but otherwise says nothing.

Din breathes. The child continues to hold tight to his armor. “I’ve changed my mind,” Din says. “Grogu does not want to go with you.” The kid coos at the sound of his name, breaking and mending Din’s heart all at the same time.

This… could be the death of him. But he knows deep down that this is the right thing to do. For him. For the child. _His child_.

No matter how dangerous. No matter how many enemies they make. No matter how long Din and _his_ kid are forced to flee the whole galaxy as refugees.

“I will find a way to teach him myself.”

Grogu babbles babbles as if in agreement and encouragement. Every word Din speaks feels like he’s mending a hole in his very soul.

“I will protect him. He will stay with me.”

“Mando…” Cara breathes.

She goes ignored. Kestis on the other hand looks over at Junda with wide eyes. The other Jedi has hooded brows above her dark eyes and a frown on her lips, however there’s nothing to reveal what she is thinking until she turns back to Kestis with a thoughtful look on her face. 

“This is your decision, Cal,” she says, her words loaded like minefields that Din doesn’t have a map for. “The galaxy has changed since the Order fell… but I know that you were born to restore it.”

Kestis swallows and turns back to Din. “Did… did you think we would take him from you?”

Din holds tighter onto Grogu, finding silent support in Cara as she steps closer to him, her blaster not aimed but ready. He appreciates her immediate decision to protect him and the child if worse comes to worse, even though Din doubts any fighting would break now.

“The other Jedi,” Din begins to say, “the one who told me to go to the Seeing Stone, she said she could not train him because… because to him I am his father, and to me he is my… he is my son. She said the attachment is dangerous, and that taking him away to train him would do more harm than good. That I should let his abilities fade with time.”

He resists shuffling his feet nervously. 

“He doesn’t want to go with you,” he repeats, “thank you for your help, but you are no longer needed.”

Kestis takes a step forward carefully, as if he’s afraid DIn will bolt. “I think there has been a misunderstanding… Din,” he says. “I said I would train him, but I never said I would take him from you.”

“Cal,” Junda says with warning in her voice, but she doesn’t say anything more as Kestis shakes his head.

He turns to Din with sincerity written on his face. “Before the Order fell, the Jedi believed that connections were risks. I was taught to agree. But… Din I have been through a lot since then and… and I don’t think family and love is a risk anymore. If you want me to train Grogu, then I will train Grogu and I will let you be with him every step of the way. And if you really don’t want me to train him, then I will do everything in my power to protect you both anyway. Protecting Force-Sensitive children is my purpose, and I will not give up on this one. I never intended to take him away.”

Din almost short circuits right there, trying to process everything he’s been told. He didn’t even… think it was a possibility to have a Jedi train his kid and be with him at the same time.

Hope fills his chest. Hope he didn’t know he was allowed to feel until now.

“If what you say is true… then I will let you train him.”

The child mumbles as Kestis’s face splits into a grin. Din hears Cara breathe a sigh of relief. Then, Bo-Katan lets out a breathy chuckle, not mocking, but not entirely amused either. Either way, it reminds Din that there are other people on the bridge. 

“A child raised by Mandalorians and Jedi,” Bo-Katan muses to Reeves. “Now where have I heard that before?”

Reeves smiles knowingly, like they’re both a part of some inside joke. “We would be wise to keep an eye on this one.”

-o-o-o-o-

“You better visit, mando,” Cara says, shoving his arm in a friendly way. The child coos at the motion and waves his hands. “Or at least send a message every once in a while.”

Din smiles even though she can’t see it. It’s hard to believe that only a little less than a standard hour has passed since Kestis offered to train his kid despite Din insisting on staying with them. As it turns out, Kestis knows the “perfect planet” to begin training, one that’s safe from any maps and especially from the Empire Remnants. However, it’s somewhere in the Mid-Rim and that’s… a very long way from Nevarro.

Not only will seeing Cara again involve long and expensive travel, but it would also be dangerous considering the fact that there’s no way Gideon will give up any time soon.

“Take care of yourself, marshal,” he says. “I’m sorry I couldn’t get you your prisoner.”

Cara grins. “We got three perfectly good ones on Fett’s ship, so all is forgiven… if you call me if you ever see the Moff again.”

Din sticks out his free arm that’s not supporting his kid’s weight. Cara takes it. “That is something I can promise.”

Cara nods, then steps back as Kestis… Cal walks up besides them. “You ready to go?”

Din sighs and looks around the large landing bay where the ship he will be leaving on has parked. Junda and Merrin are already on board while Fennec, Bo-Katan, and Reeves have stayed behind on the bridge.

Cara came along. To say goodbye.

The child coos and Din sighs. “As I’ll ever be.”

With one last nod to Cara, Din turns and joins Cal walking up the ramp into the ship. He looks back as the ramp closes and watches Cara until he can no longer see her. Everything that happens next… almost feels like a dream.

Merrin sits on a set of couches near the entrance of the ship, giving him a smile and a sharp nod as Kestis leads him to the front of the ship to find Junda and another alien Din hasn’t met yet.

The alien turns and huffs, giving Din a distrustful look with his beady eyes. “So you’re the Mandalorian?”

“This,” Cal says quickly, “is Greez. Our captain and pilot for the _Mantis_.”

Greez grumbles something about bounty hunters and starts flicking switches. “We can pretend to care to get to know each other later, kid,” he says. “I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to leave this blasted part of the galaxy.”

“Greez,” Junda chides warningly. 

Cal smiles sheepishly at Din. "Sorry 'bout him. He doesn't really trust people he doesn't know. He'll warm up to you eventually." Greez scoffs and Cal looks dangerously close to rolling his eyes. "Um, if you want you can sit with Merrin while we take off or-"

"Is there a place I can be alone for a little while?" Din interrupts. "Some place private."

Cal takes a second to nod. "Ah, yeah, sure. It's um, just straight down that way." He points down towards the other end of the ship. "It's just a small room that I mostly use for meditation and maintenance on BD, but no one will bother you for a few hours if you want to use it."

"I will. Thank you."

Cal smiles slightly. "No problem. Let us know if you need anything."

"Just privacy, for now," he says, backing away from the cockpit so he can make his way towards the area Cal pointed out. While he walks, he can hear Cal, Junda, and Greez all discussing amongst each other in low, sharp voices, but he ignores it for now. Din's pretty sure Cal's the only one who wants him here. The rest seem reluctant to various degrees, especially that Junda lady. 

He nods at Merrin politely—as he is a guest on this ship—while he passes. She raises an eyebrow at him then copies the nod. 

If Merrin doesn't like him on her ship, she at least doesn't make a point to let him know. Her eyes flicker to his kid as he passes and something in her facial features soften... but she doesn't say anything. 

Eventually, Din finds himself at the opposite end of the ship where there's a single hardly used cot, empty floor, and a table piled with mechanical parts of all kinds. Din checks behind him before he settles at the foot of the cot. Kestis had better not be lying when he said no one would bother him for a few hours. 

He settles Grogu on his lap, taking a deep breath; both feeling like there's no air in this room... and like he can finally breathe for the first time. He can feel the ship rumble and gravity shift. There's no turning back now.

He's not sure why he does it. Maybe it's the way the kid is looking up at him with such wide and trusting eyes... maybe it's the lingering thoughts at the back of his head that he's already broken many of his rules so what's one more?

He takes a deep breath and brings his hands to the bottom of his helmet. The kid coos and straightens up, staring intently as if he knows exactly what Din is about to do. 

He probably does.

Din's terrified. He's terrified and he _should_ be. Taking off your helmet in front of another living thing is against the _rules_ …

But Din doesn't feel right knowing the only one in the universe to know his true face is Mayfeld, of all people. 

Din takes the helmet off with a hiss and sets it to the side. The kid simply stares at him for a few moments before standing up with clumsy movements on top of Din's thighs. 

Din doesn't dare breath as the kid reaches up to touch his cheeks. He closes his eyes and forces his lungs to work, thinking of nothing but the tiny, tiny hands trail along every detail of his bare face... And Din doesn't think about how the last time someone has touched him so personally it was by his dad right before his parents died so.. _so_ long ago. 

Din only realizes he's crying when he opens his eyes to smile at the little womp rat. His vision is blurry as he looks at his kid without any visors or built in screens to stand between them. It's that second that Din somehow falls even more helplessly attached than he was before. He reaches forward and takes Grogu's hands between his own, rubbing each tiny palm between his thumbs and pointer fingers. 

"Things will be better now," he whispers, his uncovered voice still strange to his own ears. "You will become strong, and I will be here to protect you every step of the way."

He presses his forehead against Grogu's and closes his eyes with a sigh.

"You are my _only_ priority."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> -I let Gideon escape because I didn't want to deal with the Dark-Saber just yet. I could have given it to Bo, sure, but she was mean to Boba and I can't reward that lmao  
> -I added the Purge Trooper purely because I wanted to. Plus, I realized halfway through editing my rough draft that Din needed a good fight in this chapter. What originally was just a stormtrooper captain became a Purge Trooper. I think that opens some fun windows.  
> -I didn't add Luke in this chapter because it wouldn't work with what I've originally set in the past few chapters. That doesn't mean I wont find a way to give him some screen time in up and coming arcs.
> 
> I think those are the big things i feel obligated to explain a little? anyway, yeah. I hope this was satisfactory.
> 
> Please leave a comment? This was so much work and all the comments i've gotten these past few weeks have really encouraged me to do my absolute best. I have a few arcs in mind original writing wise, but if you guys have a few ideas for future chapters, i would be happy to hear them! I'm working on finally watching clone wars to get some more information on things.
> 
> again, thanks for reading! any and all comments are very much appreciated.


End file.
